POOLE Town returned to winning ways after a narrow 1-0 victory over Walton Casuals, with manager Tom Killick pleased with the response shown by his charges.

Killick had missed Dolphins’ 6-1 hammering away at Hayes & Yeading as he is expecting the birth of his son, with the defeat leaving Poole’s playoff hopes hanging by a thread.

Whilst the playoff picture barely changed after this weekend’s results, Dolphins did themselves no harm by seeing off Walton Casuals courtesy of a first-half Will Spetch header.

Poole managed to see out the win with little threat, generating a few half-chances of their own before the final 10 minutes.

Despite enjoying more of the ball in the closing stages, Walton failed to produce more than a single save from Mark Childs in the Poole goal.

Speaking about the game, Killick told the Daily Echo: “I felt we were reasonably in control, didn't concede many chances.

“But 1-0, 10 minutes to go, five minutes to go, two minutes to go, okay, you're going to come under some pressure and obviously there was a ball in the box at the end - I think the last play of the game, the ball was pinballing around in the area and your hearts in your mouth, because I felt that would have been a bit unfair if we ended up losing points.

“I felt we were worthy winners, perhaps just lacking a little bit of clinicalness in terms of our finishing, might have made things a little bit more comfortable.”

Killick then went on to reveal that his side had matched his pre-match request of a response to the previous weekend’s humiliation.

“But the thing we asked the players to show today was some sort of fight, some aggression, some determination,” continued Killick.

“I felt that was there. Sometimes we were a little bit short on quality.

“The game as a whole, I felt, was short on quality.

“There was a lot of free kicks, but you can only ask the players to really throw themselves into the game.

“That's what they did today.”

Poole remain 10th in the Southern League Premier South table, seven points off Chesham, who occupy the final playoff spot.

They return to action tomorrow evening, when they cross Holes Bay to face Hamworthy United in the Dorset Senior Cup final (kick-off 7.45pm).