TAFFY Richardson suggested Poole Town should relish their daunting fixture schedule rather than use it as an excuse.

Dolphins will on Saturday travel to seventh-place Beaconsfield Town (3pm) looking to close the five-point gap to the Southern League South play-off spots.

The clash begins a packed seven-week stretch of 15 league games for Poole as they play catch-up on their rivals.

Asked how hard it was to deal with a fixture backlog, Dolphins assistant boss Richardson said: “I don’t think it’s hard. I don’t think you can use any of that as an excuse.

“You play football mainly because you love playing and you want to play games. I have always felt that way.

“Do you want to train on a Tuesday night hard for an hour? Or do you want to play a game of football for an extra half hour? I’d definitely play a game of football.

“All right, you have to travel and it’s a bit of a pain getting off work if it’s an away game but when I was a footballer and I was working I used to love thinking ‘I’ve got a game tonight’.”

Dolphins are 10th in the division with 23 points from 13 league contests.

The Dorset club have games in hand on every other Southern League South side.