BOSS Tom Killick admitted Poole Town were facing the prospect of becoming embroiled in a relegation scrap after they had crashed to a third defeat in seven days.

Dolphins conceded three times in a disastrous six-minute spell at the end of the first half during Monday’s 4-1 reverse by National South rivals Wealdstone.

And although Warren Bentley’s fourth goal in as many games reduced the deficit, Dan Fitchett’s late strike for the Stones condemned Poole to a sixth defeat in their past seven games.

Poole were left to count the cost of another shoddy defensive display when Matty Whitchelow’s double and a goal from Abobaker Eisa saw the hosts reach the break in the ascendancy.

Dolphins, who finished fifth in their first season in National South, have slipped to third bottom after taking eight points from their first 11 games – and just one from their past seven.

Killick, asked by the Daily Echo whether it was too early to suggest they were in a relegation battle, replied: “No, I don’t think it is too early because the way they have front-loaded the fixtures, we are a quarter of the way through the season and we have eight points.

“We are going to have to produce a good run of results to get ourselves in a more stable position so already you would have to say the objectives have drifted a little.”

Asked whether he felt Poole were suffering a hangover from last season when they were denied a place in the play-offs, Killick said: “We didn’t finish the season well and lost key personnel in the summer.

“I have tried certain things in terms of the way we play and the shape we play, which probably haven’t worked and there seems to have been a loss of confidence.

“There is never a single factor and a lot of things have contributed to it. Everyone knows what a big factor confidence is for individual players and collectively. You can watch a team which is flying and full of confidence and they are highly effective.

“You can see them a few weeks later when they have had a bad run of results and the difference in performance levels can be significant from the same group of players. We have to keep going and try to come out the other side.”

On Poole’s latest defeat, Killick added: “We were under quite a lot of pressure in the first half but they hadn’t created too many chances.

“We made a mistake to give them the first goal and, before we could blink, we were 3-0 down and the game was gone.

“It would have been easy to roll over and a bad beating looked on the cards. But we changed things in the second half and were a lot better.

“It was scant consolation though because you have to accept that, inevitably, their levels probably dropped at 3-0 but we were better in the second half.”