BOSS Tom Killick is confident Poole Town can immediately bounce back as the race for the Southern League South play-offs hots up.

Dolphins slumped to their first loss in nine games when they were on the wrong side of a 4-0 thumping at Harrow Borough last time out.

Poole occupy fifth spot in the division – the final place in the play-off standings.

They are two points ahead of Harrow, with top-five rivals Merthyr and Kings Langley holding games in hand.

But Killick is backing his squad to respond at home against Beaconsfield Town on Saturday (3pm).

He told the Daily Echo: “We need to bounce back quickly. It has suddenly tightened up at the top.

“If we’re serious about wanting to challenge for that fifth spot, then Saturday is an absolutely vital game for us.

“I think any manager - whether their team is fighting at the bottom or fighting at the top - that says they don’t consider other teams’ results, isn’t necessarily being truthful.

“You always have to be conscious of what is going on elsewhere in terms of results.

“The good thing is, we’re in a position that if we look after our own results, we really should be okay.”

Killick insisted his side’s firepower could be boosted for the run-in after frontmen James Constable and Luke Roberts continued their respective recoveries from injury.

“The last month we’ve been without James Constable and Luke Roberts. They both should be available,” he said.

“They probably could have played last week but we felt we had to be precautionary, so we decided to give them an extra week on the bench.

“If the game had been in the balance last time out, we might have been tempted to bring them on. But the way the scoreline went, we didn’t feel like there was any worth in risking them.

“They are two important players for us.”

Beaconsfield are just four points above the drop-zone having picked up 10 league wins from 30 games this season.

But Killick is taking nothing for granted ahead of the battle.

“They’ve had a couple of disappointing results lately,” he said.

“But I was very impressed with them when we played them away. They had a decent run in the FA Trophy earlier in the season.

“We are very aware of the dangers they pose, judging on their performance against us.”

Poole will once again be without defender Jake Smeeton.