Poole Town 'lacked a little bit of quality in both boxes' during defeat at Chesham

Despite taking a first-half lead via Harry Baker, Dolphins succumbed to a Dave Pearce strike and an empathic finish from Karl Oliyide in a 2-1 reverse at Chesham.

The setback left Dolphins ninth in Southern League South.

Killick told the Daily Echo: “The defeat feels like very similar to the Taunton defeat. There wasn’t much in it and we gave as good as we got.

“This time, we were away from home, so I think the players deserve a bit of credit for going toe-to-toe with a good side.

“We just lacked a little bit of quality in both boxes. For now, we have to pick ourselves up and go again.”

Baker could have walked off with a brace if not for the assistant’s flag, with his seemingly perfect opener ruled out for offside.

While refusing to be drawn into speculation regarding whether the goal should have stood, Killick commented on the referee’s performance.

He said: “The decision to rule the goal out didn’t have a major bearing on the game in my opinion. I wasn’t well positioned for it and we scored shortly afterwards anyway.

“I did think the referee was inconsistent for both teams, which led to a lot of frustration for both teams, meaning it was a very tetchy affair.

“But the offside decision didn’t impact the game. We have to take our chances in the box and that unfortunately wasn’t one of them.”

Poole still hold multiple games in hand over their promotion rivals, a position Killick refused to take for granted.

“We’re not in the best run of form at the moment, something I think that is exacerbated by the postponements,” he added.

“We desperately need to turn our form around, and we’ll look to change that starting Tuesday night against Salisbury.”

While captain Jamie Whisken came off against Chesham, it was only a precautionary measure and there appears to be no aggravation of his recent hip injury.

Luke Cairney is reportedly still away on duty with the Royal Army, meaning Mark Childs will remain between the sticks.