Manager Tom Killick is expecting another tough game when his charges host Hendon today, but Poole’s boss is confident after a strong run of results for the Dolphins.
Poole have not lost at home since August, but Killick has been pleased with Poole’s performances in general.
He told All Poole Aren’t We: “It’s not just at home – I think generally our form has been good.
“If you leave aside the King’s Langley result, which had exceptional circumstances surrounding it, in terms of the availability we had on the day, the red card.
“If you take that out of the mix, even the FA Cup games, the two performances against Chippenham were reasonably strong.”
Hendon come into the game in opposite form, with the London club without a win since September. Despite the somewhat lukewarm form of their guests, Killick is predicting a hard match against a side capable of finishing higher up the table than their current position.
“They’ve got a lot of good players,” continued Killick.
“Perhaps their recent results have been a bit of blip for them, but I think they are one of the sides that are quite ambitious in terms of wanting to be in and around the promotion shake-up.
“Not withstanding their recent disappointing results, I think they’re going to be strong opposition.”
Hendon travel to Dorset fresh off a midweek defeat to Hartley Wintney, and whilst Killick is grateful that his side had a free midweek, he is not expecting much of an advantage from the break.
“If you could chose, in the build up to a Saturday game, to have a free week or not have a free week, you’d always pick the extra rest.
“But I don’t think it will make a massive amount of difference.
“I think Hendon are a side where if you looked at them at the start of the season, you probably thought they’d be looking to challenge at the top end, and I’m sure they’ve still got ambitions of doing that.”
Dolphins will not have any midweek respite the following game on Tuesday, as they make their longest trip of the season to south Wales. But despite the trek on the near horizon, Killick and co. remain solely focused on the task at hand.
“We will do what we need to do on Saturday in terms of team selection, in order to win the game.
“Our entire focus is on picking a team to win the game. All our focus is on the game against Hendon, and once that game is finished, you see where you are and then concentrate on picking a team for Merthyr.
“So, Merthyr doesn’t really come into our thinking at all on Saturday.
“I suppose, the only way it ever would is if on Saturday you were at a stage of the game where the result has been decided one way or the other, then you might start looking ahead and making substitutions with the Merthyr game in mind.
“But, that doesn’t happen very often in my experience, very rarely you have the luxury of doing that.
“It’s all focus on Saturday, and then we’ll look at Merthyr once we’ve got that out of the way to see who we’ve got fit and available, and to see what the best team will be to take on Merthyr.”
Poole have a full squad to pick from, although Jez Bedford and Sam Jackson are slight doubts due to illness. Bailey Rowe continues his comeback from foot surgery away from the first team.
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