Tom Killick (Photo Credit: Andy Orman)
Originally published 09/04/16 on South Coast Journalism
Tom Killick’s Poole Town are on the verge of completing promotion – but the man himself is not eager to proclaim his side champions, at least not yet.
With Killick’s ideology of ‘One game at a time’, first up on the agenda was Hitchin – a game that didn’t pass by without controversy.
“Through no fault of our own, we’ve been put in a very difficult situation, and we feel very aggrieved about that,” Killick stated.
“But, having been put in that situation, I thought the way the players dealt with it – restricted them to not an awful lot of clear chances – at the end, they’ve hit the cross bar, and obviously, the penalty. But, everyone could see that wasn’t a penalty.
“I just feel, having being put in this situation, which we put in through no fault of our own, we did well.”
Killick was coy in his response about the two major talking points – Poole’s two sending offs, Michael Walker for Handball, and Steve Devlin, for simulation.
“There’s a lot of people at the ground, and everyone can see what those decisions amounted to. I’m not in a position to comment, because if I were to think the referee’s made dreadful mistakes, but then if I say that, I’d be reported.
“So there’s 700 people that know that the red cards weren’t red cards, and the penalty wasn’t a penalty.
“Unfortunately, everyone in the ground can see he shouldn’t be sent off, but he has been.”
With this arguably being Poole’s hardest fixture left, a point possibly suited the Dolphins – however, the gameplan prior to kick-off was different to what transpired.
“I think at the start we were keen to try and get three points, but how the referee’s conducted himself, I think we were pleased to get a draw.”
Poole now have to trek up to Stratford – who have already beaten the Dolphins, in a dull defeat last month. A poor game with neither team inspiring, Poole will look to set the record straight against a side that is almost mathematically safe.
“I hope so [that we can win]. People are getting weary physically at this stage of the season, but I’m hoping we can take quite a lot of heart and positivity from the effort we’ve put in the game after the referee’s done what he’s done.”
“We’ve made the deliberate decision that we just literally focus on the game ahead of us. We just have to beat Stratford, and be as good as we can be against Stratford.”
Poole now have two home games sandwiched by two away fixtures (the aforementioned Stratford game and Cambridge City on the last day.)
The earliest they can win the league now is against Dunstable, next Saturday, but that would depend on results elsewhere going their way.
All Poole Aren't We 