POOLE Town fans will catch their first glimpse of their side this pre-season tomorrow evening as Cherries’ development squad visit BlackGold Stadium (7.45pm) but Dolphins’ preparations for the new campaign started in earnest on Friday night.

Poole were held 1-1 in a draw with Southern League Division One South outfit Bashley staged on the 3G pitches at Blandford School.

Although numerous trialists turned out for Dolphins, the reasoning behind a behind closed doors friendly on neutral ground was not a bid to keep prying eyes away, but instead to allow both Poole and Bashley’s pitches more time to recuperate from the exploits of last season.

Boss Tom Killick explained to the Daily Echo: “I just think you always get this dilemma that you want to start your games, but people want to give pitches as much time as possible.

“A lot of it was just we thought that it might make good sense to play at a neutral venue because it was quite early in terms of pitch preparation for both us and Bashley.

“It was more that than any sort of master plan on behalf of either mine or Matt (Tubbs) to do it behind closed doors.

“It was just really practicalities in terms of pitch.

“Once you're at a neutral venue, if you start trying to have spectators, I don't even know what the sort of legalities of it are, but it becomes a bit of a logistical issue.

“So we just felt then it's better to not advertise it and not have people turning up because it would have presented problems in terms of spectators.

“There wasn't anything complex. It was just really practical that suited both of us.”

Poole certainly want spectators to turn up for their clash with Alan Connell’s young Cherries side on Tuesday evening, with the development squad potentially strengthened by a few senior players on the fringes of Andoni Iraola’s first team at Vitality Stadium.

Killick continued: “We know in terms of the strength of the opposition that for a number of years now, playing the under-23s is a sort of stern test for us anyway.

“So the fact that they're now potentially going to be sprinkled with some senior players means that it's going to be an even sterner test for our players.

"But I always say, we’re unbelievably grateful that Bournemouth help us and support us in having these games because they're the highlight really of our pre-season campaign.

“If we do end up with some senior players, then it really does sort of help the club because you would hope then the profile of the game becomes a little bit enhanced.

“And stating the obvious, that then means there's financial benefits, part of everything else for the club playing them.

“It is such a positive thing that they agree to come and we just hope that it's worthwhile for them as well.”