TAFFY Richardson dismissed talk of a controversial goal in Poole Town’s defeat against Hendon and admitted: “We got what we deserved.”

Dolphins’ hopes of a play-off finish in Southern League South took a huge dent at Black Gold Stadium on Saturday after second-half strikes from Ryan Hope and Ogo Obi inflicted a 2-0 loss.

Contention surrounded Hope’s 73rd-minute opener as it appeared Sam Griffin had been bundled over in the Hendon box before the visitors countered and scored. However, assistant Richardson admitted Poole’s performance left a lot to be desired.

He told the Daily Echo: “We got what we deserved. We deserved nothing out of the game.

“It was irrelevant if it was a goal or not, or if we should have had a penalty. There’s no point on commenting on it. Maybe if it’s given as a goal or we get the penalty, we go on and win it but that’s not really relevant. I’m just disappointed we didn’t really create anything, especially in the first half.”

Defeat left Poole six points behind fifth-placed Kings Langley with five games remaining.

“It felt like whoever who scored first would probably get the three points,” said Richardson.

“I might not be being very kind to us, we weren’t very good but in the position we’re in, we had to gamble and chuck men at it.

“If we hadn’t gambled, we probably could have seen that out for a draw. But, we can’t rely on other people to drop points. We had to gamble and it was a gamble that didn’t really pay off.

“It comes down to me and Micky (Hubbard), it was our call in the end. We decided we had to go for the three points, even if it meant we lost out on the draw.”

Dolphins: Cairney, Dickson, Smeeton (Boote, 77), Spetch, Leslie-Smith (Clarke, 68), House (Scrimshaw, 46), Griffin, Moore, Constable, Brooks. Unused subs: Hanfrey, Grange.