BOSS Tom Killick saw Poole Town finally surrender their unbeaten home record and then tasked his players with rediscovering their early-season form.

Zac Sirrell’s finely-executed strike after 15 minutes condemned Dolphins to defeat as promotion rivals Redditch closed the gap on the top two.

Victory saw the Reds move to within three points of the summit, with leaders Weymouth coming a cropper for the second game in succession.

Poole, who suffered one defeat in their first 16 league games, have now lost three of their past seven and trail the Terras by one point but with a game in hand.

Killick was left to rue seeing his team miss a couple of presentable first-half chances before the visitors had Calvin Dinsley sent off for a second bookable offence after 65 minutes.

“I thought we had the better of the game,” said Killick. “We had a couple of good chances in the first half and they cost us. They put everyone behind the ball in the second half.

“The players put everything into the game and, physically, it was a difficult pitch. We bombarded them towards the end, especially after they’d had a man sent off. If you are being critical, we probably just lacked a bit of quality and creativity in the final third.

“But it was a big effort from the players. It wasn’t one of those games when you came off and were really frustrated because you thought they could have given a bit more.

"It was just one of those days when we paid the price for some missed chances. Perhaps we were almost guilty of trying too hard at the end and trying to force things.”

Redditch and Truro were the only winners in the top six, while high-fliers Corby and Hungerford battled out a 1-1 draw.

Killick added: “When you see the other results, you feel frustrated that, with a win, you could have made some good headway.

"But, at the same time, you are relieved that a bad result hasn’t cost you too much in terms of the table.

“You probably dwell more on your own performance and it is fair to say we are not playing as well as we would like at the moment and have to try to get back on track quickly.”

Dolphins: Hutchings, Tallack, Martin (Maloney, 66), Walker, Whisken, Pettefer, Burbidge, Devlin, Quigley, Brooks, Gilkes (Roberts, 66). Unused subs: Lindsay, Davis, Thomas (g/k).