WARY boss Tom Killick will not shuffle his pack for the visit of rock-bottom Bedford Town after admitting Poole Town’s play-off prospects are “on a knife edge”.

The Eagles have lost their past 19 Southern League Premier Division matches, including a 5-1 defeat to the Dolphins in the reverse fixture at the start of February.

But while Poole, in the midst of a crippling fixture backlog, are facing their 10th match in 25 days, Killick feels his side’s position just outside the top five is too precarious to risk resting a host of players against the league’s whipping boys.

Killick told the Daily Echo: “We aren’t in a position to start messing around with personnel and I will be putting out the strongest team I can.

“There could be two or three changes because of minor injuries. With the volume of games coming up, we have to be more cautious than normal with any knocks.

“But we don’t want to take any chances because we are neither good enough or in a strong enough position to change things around too much. Looking at the league table, we desperately need points from our next two home matches.

“Our season is on a knife edge. There is always one team that comes from nowhere and Hungerford are making a good play for the top five. We cannot afford to take any chances.”

Meanwhile, Killick confirmed he had missed out on a last-ditch loan deal for Exeter City defender Jordan Tillson ahead of yesterday’s 5pm Southern League registration deadline.

Poole's squad could be boosted by the return of up to five faces ahead of the match with Keith Emmerson, Jordan Chiedozie and Carl Pettefer all making good progress with injuries. 

Jon Davies is back after a bout of flu and Michael Charles is available after missing last night's trip to Redditch through work commitments. Cherries loanee Jon Muleba (knee) remains sidelined. 

Dolphins: (from) Thomas, Emmerson, Wannell, Dibba, Whisken, Brooks, Devlin, Davies, Preston, Charles, Chiedozie, Davis, Elliott, Lowes, Burbidge, Pettefer, Hutchings.

  • Elsewhere in the Southern Premier Bashley travel to Banbury United, while Wimborne Town host Paulton Rovers in Southern South & West (both 3pm).

Bash: (from) Jones, Rolls, Morris, Flint, Ansell, Marden, Bulpitt, Roberts, Manders, Soetan, Joyce, Odam, Strickland, Brookes, Gazzard, George.

Magpies: (from) Harvell, Arnold, Maybury, Oliver, Brimson, Blake, Griffin, Davidson, Grose, Kemble, Webb, Phelps, Burton-Hemmings, Hall, Terry.