POOLE Town boss Tom Killick had a lot to celebrate this week – with the birth of his son quickly followed by his side’s success in the Dorset Senior Cup.

After waiting two weeks past his due date, baby Killick arrived on Monday morning, before Poole edged past town rivals Hamworthy United 2-1 on Tuesday evening.

Jack Dickson opened the scores with a deflected strike in the 25th minute, before Jamie Filkins dragged the game into extra-time with an injury-time equaliser.

Poole eventually got the better of their opponents, with Luke Holmes popping up in the 121st minute to convert what proved to be the winner.

The triumph in the county’s showpiece final was Killick’s fifth in his 18-year spell at Poole.

When asked by the Daily Echo if he was more nervous about the birth of his son or Poole’s cup final, Killick responded: “I do have to say the baby.

“It's a bit of an ordeal and that's just for me, let alone for my poor partner Donna who has to go through the mill.

“But it's all turned out well. He's just one of the best experiences ever. So that was fairly amazing.

“And as I say, (last night) was a bit of contrast.”

Killick’s joy from a new addition to his family was somewhat tempered by what he deemed a poor Poole performance, with the Dolphins stalwart frustrated that his side made hard work of a game against a side two divisions below.

Whilst he was clearly frustrated by his charges’ performances, Killick was quick to point out and praise Hamworthy for their part in the spectacle.

“I thought they were good,” added Killick.

“They were determined. You could see they’re a side who are confident.

“They're used to winning games. That always counts, in my view, for something.

“But I have to give them credit, as I said, because I thought they did well and were dogged, but we were just awful.

“We were just so far below our levels. I just couldn't really believe what I was seeing at times.

“The quality - there's no excuse about the pitch. Often this time of year, everyone's like, ‘oh, well, the pitch is difficult.’

“You're playing on a 4G, there’s no bobbles. And we're just giving the ball away, giving the ball away, giving the ball away. Making bad decisions.

“And every time I thought there was a low point in the game, we couldn't get any worse, we proceeded to then get worse.

“Literally the only positive is that we won the cup. We avoided the lottery of penalties, but it just seems almost a bit of a hollow victory.

“Because, pleased as we are to win the cup, we know we were miles below what we should be.”

Killick the mused on the idea that the performance served as a summation of Poole’s faltering league campaign as a whole.

He restarted: “Perhaps our performance does demonstrate why we fail in terms of our league campaign, why we're not a bit higher than we are.

“It's because of performances like that. And again, without being disrespectful to Hamworthy, Imagine if we produced that against Weston-super-Mare on Saturday, it'd be double figures.

“We would be absolutely picked apart. So the only consolation is that I've never seen us play as bad as that.

“It is a low point in our season, but somehow we've won a game of football.

“But we know when we play a team in our league that would result in a very heavy defeat.”