POOLE Town boss Tom Killick described as an “exceptional performance” his side’s 2-0 win at Tooting & Mitcham - as Dolphins moved one step away from the FA Cup first round proper.

Despite Luke Holmes’s first-half dismissal, goals from Marvin Brooks and Ollie Dennett put the Tatnam outfit into Monday’s fourth qualifying round draw.

Killick told the Daily Echo: “I thought it was an exceptional performance. I thought they (Tooting) started brightly and it looked like they were going to be strong opponents – which, to be fair, in a lot of aspects, they were.

“We gradually grabbed control of the game, which came to a point when we scored the (first) goal. At that point, we looked quite comfortable.

“The sending off really put us on the back foot and gave them an injection of hope. They looked slightly bereft of ideas before the sending off.

“We felt we could still carry a threat and we proved that when we grabbed the second. After the second goal it was over as a contest but I was really proud of how the team played throughout. We thoroughly deserved to go through.”

After sustaining some early pressure, Poole sprung their first meaningful attack via Josh Carmichael’s fizzing cross-field ball, which allowed Holmes the opportunity to waltz through the hosts’ defence and tee-up Brooks in plenty of space.

Under no real pressure he stroked the ball into the far corner and give Dolphins a 13th-minute lead.

Poole then controlled proceedings until the game received another twist in the form of Holmes’s dismissal.

Flying into a 50-50 challenge, the midfielder was deemed to have used excessive force, leaving match official James Simpson no choice but to produce a red-card.

With a man advantage Tooting controlled the second half, testing Luke Cairney and the Poole defence throughout in search of an equaliser.

But Poole finalised their place in next round and banked £11,250 when Corby Moore’s free-kick was nodded down to substitute Dennett, who took his time to control before blasting home.

Dolphins: Cairney, Dickson, Leslie-Smith, Spetch, Whisken, Gleditsch (Jackson, 46), Carmichael, Moore, Baker (Dennett, 74), Brooks (Smeeton, 60), Holmes

Unused Subs: Phillips (g/k), Tavares, Bedford, Grange.