POOLE Town boss Tom Killick admitted Richard Gillespie had "got his message across" after making an explosive cameo appearance against title rivals Weymouth.

The striker entered the fray with 11 minutes left - later than originally planned - and bagged a double in the 4-0 victory over the Terras.

And Killick was pleased that the frontman had made a telling impact having replaced Lewis Lindsay at Tatnam.

The boss told the Daily Echo: “Apparently, he was a bit annoyed with me because I was going to bring him on earlier but we scored so I decided to bring on Keith Emmerson instead.

“I'm told he was a bit miffed by that so he obviously decided to get his message across!”

Gillespie has struggled with hamstring problems since he rejoined Dolphins in November but Killick is optimistic the frontman can avoid injury for the foreseeable future.

Killick said: “It has been difficult for him because he missed all of pre-season and a big chunk of the start of the season.

“He was not fit when he came back to us and we probably rushed him into things a little bit and his injuries kept setting him back.

“We are really hoping those problems are behind him and that he's getting close to being fully fit. To have him in the squad and sitting next to me on the bench is quite comforting.

“He is one of those players that naturally scores goals and to have him, Luke Roberts and Joe Quigley available suddenly puts us in a very good position. We are quite blessed in that department.”

Loanee Ben Close made his debut on the left side of midfield against Weymouth and won the penalty that led to the opening goal. And Killick revealed he had been impressed by the teenager's efforts.

Killick added: “He did very well. He's very neat in possession and looked after the ball very well.

“It was a little bit difficult for him at times because he's naturally more right footed than left footed but I thought he was very good.”

Killick also praised his players for their composed approach in the face of determined display from the visitors.

He said: “I must admit, I thought that the game would be decided by one goal and when they set up the way they did, it was fairly evident that they didn't have huge ambition in terms of winning the game.

“It's quite easy to fall into the trap of trying to force the game and when you play against opponents that set up in that way, you do play into their hands because you leave yourself open to the counter.

“A really positive thing for us was that we constantly put them under pressure but I don't recall them having any opportunities so I thought we were very disciplined. Although we didn't get a breakthrough early on, we were quite patient and didn't try to force something, which is an easy thing to do.”

Killick added: “That's four wins in a row which has given us a little bit of a cushion at the top.

"You hope that the defeat will damage them and help us. When you are at the top, one win or two wins doesn't really make any inroads, you have to string big sequences of results together and four in a row has been very good for us.”