POOLE Town boss Tom Killick accused his side of complacency after they had been subjected to a first league defeat of the season by Southern Premier pace-setters Chippenham.

The visitors triumphed 3-1 at Tatnam on Tuesday with a couple of penalties from Andy Sandell supplemented by a late strike from Matt Smith, with Dolphins' Steve Devlin on target from the spot in between.

To make matters worse for the hosts, centre-half Michael Walker was sent off for a second yellow card with five minutes left, having initially been booked for dissent after Chippenham's second penalty.

For Killick, the game had been lost in a first period in which Dolphins had emerged 1-0 down despite having the greater number of presentable chances.

He told the Daily Echo: "Although we weren't playing badly in the first half, I felt we weren't flat out and the damage was done then. We didn't have enough intensity and that cost us.

"We were a bit loose and off it physically and mentally. Because we have a lot of ability in the team we will win games when we are slightly below-par but tonight we paid the price.

"We had a really good win at St Neots on Saturday and I wonder whether we got a bit carried away in terms of thinking that things can come a bit too easily.

"I feel there was almost a complacency about our performance and perhaps we've learned a painful lesson."

Poole had a clutch of opportunities in the first half but it was Chippenham that took the lead when Sandell went to ground in the area under a Jamie Gleeson challenge and the ex-Newport man sent keeper Nick Hutchings the wrong way from the spot.

Midway through the second period, Hutchings was penalised for a clattering into Ashan Holgate in the six-yard box and Sandell stepped up to rattle home his seventh goal in four games.

Remarkably, referee Chris Wade awarded a third penalty with 14 minutes left after Richard Gillespie had been felled at pace, with Devlin converting his 50th league goal for the club from 12 yards.

But Chippenham put the game to bed in stoppage time when Matt Smith rifled superbly home.

Reflecting on the spot-kick decisions, Killick added: "The first and third decisions I thought were correct but the second I didn't get a good view of.

"That seemed to be the most controversial of the three but I'm not in a position to put forward an opinion on that one."

Dolphins: Hutchings, Tallack (Roberts, 65), Emmerson, Walker, Whisken, Gleeson, Burbidge, Devlin, Holmes, Brooks (Davidson, 71), Gillespie (Connell, 76). Unused subs: Spetch, Collins (g/k).