TOM Killick admitted it had been “very difficult” to miss crucial Poole Town fixtures as he prepares to return from his stadium ban.

The Dolphins boss will be back in the dugout for Saturday’s tricky trip to third-placed Metropolitan Police before Poole welcome league leaders Weymouth to Black Gold Stadium on Monday (both 3pm).

Killick told the Daily Echo: “I’m pleased to be coming back to such an easy sequence of fixtures!

“I joke, but it’s going to be very tough. I’ve really, really missed it since I’ve been away. I’ve found it very difficult, so I’m pleased to be back.

“You always hope that we’re going to win our last three matches. That’s going to be a very difficult task to do with the games we’ve got. It’s a case of us having to do as well as we can and see where that takes us.”

After the gauntlet of two tough fixtures, Poole have the simpler task of already-relegated Staines, who have shipped 32 goals in their past five outings.

However, the boss has not even started to consider the final game of the regular season.

He said: “I feel at the moment that Staines is just on the horizon and the immediate concern is Met Police away and then Weymouth.

“Normally you’d narrow it even more than that – you’d give it the classic line of ‘one game at time’.

“But when you have games in such close proximity, as a manager you do have to look at your team selection – for instance, you have to take into account that you’ve got two games in three days.

“What I’m saying at the moment is the focus is solely on ourselves for this weekend, Saturday and Monday, after which we will see where we are and see what the scenario is going into the final day.

“I think that’s the only way we can approach it.”

Dolphins could potentially face Met Police or Weymouth in the play-offs – but barring a bonus scouting session, Killick is concentrating on finishing the league campaign right.

He said: “I think it impacts the game in the form of us paying more attention and taking more notes of what they do and how they do it, in case that scenario arises in the play-offs. You want to learn as much as you can – but that is a secondary thing.

“You want to try as hard as you can to win the game, that’s the priority.”

Luke Roberts’s season could be over if Poole fail to make the play-offs.

The attacker is set for scans on a knee injury next week. He could make a return in the post-season, should Poole finish in the top five.

Meanwhile, Dolphins have announced a pre-season friendly against a Chelsea XI on Saturday, July 20.