TOM Killick has admitted he failed in a loan move for Shaun Cooper – as Poole Town prepare to lock horns with the former Cherries defender.

Dolphins boss Killick last week attempted to reel in the Sutton United man but Cooper instead joined Eastbourne Borough as part of a double deal that saw him and Craig McAllister move to Priory Lane on month-long loans.

Now Poole could come up against the duo in tomorrow’s National South clash, with Killick’s men hopeful of returning to winning ways following a 4-0 defeat at St Albans City in midweek.

Killick told the Daily Echo: “It hasn’t helped our cause that Eastbourne have acquired two players from Sutton.

“Shaun Cooper is a very good player and we were quite keen to take him on loan but, unfortunately, there was a deal done where him and McAllister went to Eastbourne so that will have made them stronger.

“That typifies the kind of thing we’re up against and we have to try and get back on track.”

Poole’s defeat to St Albans was their second of the campaign but Killick’s troops – champions of the Southern Premier last term – are still riding high in the division following a positive overall start.

The manager admitted the loss at City had been tough to take but revealed he welcomed the pain engendered by such a result, because he did not want his players to accept defeat at a higher level.

Killick said: “However you try and prepare yourself for the fact defeats might be more frequent, I don’t think you can change how you respond and react to them.

“Defeats are something we’ve always found it difficult to tolerate and accept and in some ways I don’t want that to change.

“I’ve been been aware of too many clubs which in my view are too ready to accept defeat and you are almost giving the players a ready-made way out.

“I found the St Albans result quite humiliating and I had this real anger and upset and I think the players shared that and that’s what I want.

“I don’t want to ever get to a point where defeats are glossed over. I want defeats to hurt and I want us not to accept them. That means we’re going to have a few more upsetting days and times during the season than we have had previously but I’d rather have it that way and not reduce the significance of those defeats.

“If defeats remain as painful as they were before but are a bit more frequent, in my view that’s more than balanced out by the feeling of enjoyment we get when we win and a real sense of achievement with every point you get, which wasn’t the case in the league below.”

Richard Gillespie (hamstring), Carl Pettefer (hamstring) and Jamie Gleeson (calf) could return.

Dolphins: (from) Hutchings, Lindsay, Spetch, Walker, Whisken, Granger, Gleeson, Pettefer, Burbidge, Devlin, Roberts, Gillespie, Baggie, Case, Davis, Wort, Surridge, Rees.