LUKE Burbidge’s classy first-half strike along the banks of the River Avon last night left Poole Town tantalisingly close to being crowned champions of the Southern League.

Burbidge’s 19th-minute piledriver was pure poetry for the Dolphins at Stratford Town, the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

It settled in Poole’s favour a scrappy contest at the DCS Stadium and took the Dorset club six points clear at the Premier Division summit.

Poole require three points from their final three games of the season – the first of which is against 10th-placed Dunstable at Tatnam on Saturday – to win the title.

Promotion to National League South, step two in the non-league pyramid, would cap a remarkable rise for a club which was competing in the Hampshire League just 12 years ago.

Current boss Tom Killick, who has taken charge of more than 600 games, has presided over three promotions and is hoping to pilot the club to a fifth league championship.

Poole will be desperate to erase the memory of last season’s failure when they lost a title decider on the final day against Corby and then suffered play-off heartbreak against St Neots in the semi-final.

Ground issues dogged the Dolphins for several years after they had been kicked out of Poole Stadium in 1994.

They originally joined the Southern League in 1957 and spent 40 consecutive seasons in the competition, including 13 in the top flight.

Until 1979, the top tier of the Southern League had been one of three divisions to feed into the Football League, with Poole finishing behind Cambridge United in 1970 and Hereford United in 1972 as both clubs won election. Wimbledon also made the jump in 1977.

Dolphins old boy Charlie Austin took to Twitter to congratulate his former club with the Southampton striker posting: "Well done @PooleTownFC big finish needed now."

Dolphins: Hutchings, Tallack, Spetch, Lindsay, Whisken, Pettefer, Burbidge (Gleeson, 66), Devlin, Lee (Dickson, 58), Brooks, Roberts. Unused subs: Holgate, Gillespie, Rees (g/k).