POOLE boss Tom Killick admitted his team’s home form was a cause for concern after their 1-0 defeat to league leaders St Albans City on Saturday.

Dolphins were beaten for the second time in three home league fixtures at the Black Gold Stadium this term, thanks to a goal from Rhys Murrell-Williamson.

And with just one point coming from a trio of home outings in National South, Killick claimed he was surprised by his team’s low level of performance on their own patch.

He told the Daily Echo: “We have had three home games now and we are yet to really perform well, which is a worry.

“It’s something I wouldn’t have expected.

“It’s not just the results, it has been the performances as well. It’s not as if we have been creating chance after chance and things haven’t quite gone our way.

“In the three games we have played at home all three have been quite poor performances. It’s something we have to address, that’s for sure.”

The all-important strike came for the visitors on 40 minutes.

Zane Banton found Murrell-Williamson, who struck the ball into the far corner to seal all three points for the league leaders and notch his third goal in as many games in the process.

That gave the Saints their fifth league victory on the spin, meaning they top the pile with 15 points.

Poole are 10th in the table with seven points coming from their opening five fixtures.

Killick added: “In the first half it looked like both sides were very lethargic and there didn’t seem to be a lot of desire on either side to win the game. I think that was the frustrating bit.

“If we had been better in the first half I think the game was there for the taking.

“There seems to be a little bit of tension in our play and, certainly, Saturday lacked intensity. I was very frustrated with how flat we were, particularly in the first half.”

Dolphins: Hutchings, Lindsay, Smeeton, Spetch, Whisken, Pettefer (Bedford, 70), Burbidge, Devlin, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cooper (Dickson, 53), Moore (Lee, 53). Unused subs: Rees (g/k), Baggie.