POOLE Town assistant manager Callum Brooks refused to point the finger at goalkeeper Nick Hutchings after his error proved costly at Slough Town.

Dolphins were dumped out of the FA Cup at the third qualifying round stage following a 2-1 defeat at Arbour Park.

Having taken the lead through a superb solo effort from striker Warren Bentley, Poole were pegged back by a header from Slough’s Chris Flood on 57 minutes.

And disaster struck for the visitors seven minutes from time as Southern Premier Slough found a winner.

George Wells fired a left-footed effort which was spilled by Hutchings and ended up squirming into the net to send Poole out.

But assistant Brooks, who had stepped up to manage the side with boss Tom Killick unavailable, stressed he would not be placing the blame for the result on his goalkeeper.

He told the Daily Echo: “Nick was devastated by the mistake, as were all the lads.

“If someone had not followed an instruction or shown a lack of desire, you can start pointing fingers.

“But Nick would catch that ball 999 times out of 1,000. It was a clear-cut mistake, nobody does it on purpose and, ultimately, it cost us their second goal.

“If you make a mistake as a keeper, ultimately, it can lead to a goal but I wasn’t going to start pointing the finger at him.

“Nick has kept us in loads of games over the couple of years I have been at the club.

“I tried to console him after and remind him of the better days he has had. The boys were fine with him because they have seen him make unreal saves which you wouldn’t expect.

“It’s the equivalent of a striker missing a goal from a yard. You don’t tell them to do it and they don’t try to do it. Sometimes, mistakes happen.”

The result meant Poole missed out on a valuable replay against the Rebels and also the chance to gain £7,500 in prize money.

It was the second time Dolphins had crashed out against lower league opposition in successive seasons, having been beaten by eventual Southern League champions Chippenham Town in the FA Cup last season.

“We are massively disappointed to be knocked out after being in a good position,” added Brooks.

“They are flying high in the league below and scoring plenty of goals, so we knew we were going to come under some pressure.

“We had planned for that and it was an ideal first half.

“We looked dangerous on the counter-attack and a little bit of quality gave us the lead.

“For us it was a feeling of missed opportunity, disappointment and we have to find a way to pick ourselves up.”

Dolphins: Hutchings, Lindsay, Moore, Spetch, Whisken, Pettefer, Dickson (Lee, 56), Cooper, Bentley, Bedford (Baggie, 73), Harfield. Unused subs: Cook, Neale, Balmer, Rees (g/k).