VETERAN Poole midfielder Taffy Richardson admitted he felt sorry for stand-in boss Steve Cuss after their disappointing home stalemate against Newport.

Cuss took charge of Dolphins because manager Tom Killick is currently unavailable and he saw the table-toppers storm into a 2-1 lead through Aaron Skelton and Steve Smith.

But the Wessex Premier leaders contrived to concede a dramatic stoppage time leveller as Scott Sampson bundled the ball home.

Added to Darren Powell’s earlier strike for the islanders, it meant Newport travelled back across the Solent with a point.

Richardson said: “I felt a bit sorry for Steve because he gave our players all the right warnings and they weren’t heeded.

“He was flabbergasted at the end. He knew what was going to happen and a few of our players weren’t very good, to be fair.

“We should have won although we didn’t play particularly well.

“Steve has never lost when he has been in charge while Tom’s been away and I think that’s the first time we’ve even been held to a draw in those circumstances.

“Not losing when you haven’t played very well isn’t the end of the world, though. We’re still 18 unbeaten and we’ll be happy if that’s still the case come the end of the season.”

Richardson refuted claims Poole’s players may have been distracted by their upcoming FA Cup fourth qualifying round clash against Conference outfit Hayes & Yeading on October 23.

He said: “That’s a cop out, an easy excuse to make just because we dropped points. Your mind is always on the game you are playing at the time.

“Newport played one up front and three in midfield and it was hard work for us trying to break them down. They are a good side but we didn’t do very well in the first half. In the second half we improved and if we’d listened to Steve a bit more we would have won.”

Dolphins: Jones, Poore, Smeeton, Spetch, M Walker, Richardson, Gill (Harrop, 65), Skelton (Sturgess, 75), Smith, Preston, Cook. Unused subs: S Walker, Hubbard.