TOM Killick has bolstered his Poole Town squad ahead of tomorrow's league clash against New Milton Town at Tatnam (3pm).

Killick believes clubs need to have "17 or 18 strong players" to compete at the top of the Wessex Premier Division, and the Dolphins boss thinks his squad is "close to achieving that".

Utility man Shaun Bowden, who helped Dawlish knock Poole out of the FA Cup earlier this season, has signed for the league leaders after moving to the area to attend Bournemouth University.

Also new to Poole's ranks is Leon Lima, a winger with League of Wales experience, who impressed Killick when playing in a practice match.

"It's two more on board, which can only help us in my view," Killick told the Daily Echo.

On paper, the outcome of Poole's game against New Milton is a no-brainer, with Trevor Parker's side boasting just one win from 14 matches.

But Killick doesn't think it will be a straightforward afternoon's work.

He said: "Their results, with a couple of exceptions, have been close and they've lost narrowly to a lot of teams.

"There's signs they're getting stronger all the time and, with the players they've got, it's likely to be a harder game than the table suggests."

Saturday will see Parker return to his former club, where he was manager in the troublesome times after Dolphins lost their Southern League status and were without a home.

Speaking of his time at Poole, Parker said: "They were a good club with a lot of nice people, especially the chairmen at the time."

Parker is likely to hand a debut to Michael Green for the game against the league's pace setters after the defender joined from Christchurch.

Poole Town: (from) Frampton, Whitley, Hogan, Skelton, I Richardson, Cann, Yelland, S Richardson, Sturgess, T Smith, C Smith, Culliford, Cannie, S Smith, Brown, Benssaouda, Lima, Bowden, Funnell, Opara.

New Milton Town: (from) Watson, Grace, R Chengadu, K Chengadu, Green, Booker, Borthwick, Long, Smith, Ewen, Marks, Kabir, Sampays, Turner, Flood, Malloy.

HOT ON POOLE'S HEELS

WIMBORNE Town boss Christer Warren has said he is "not too interested" in Poole Town as his side continue to close in on the Wessex Premier Division leaders.

Magpies moved into second place with victory on Tuesday night but Warren just wants to keep focussing on his own team's results, starting with tomorrow's visit to Alton Town (3pm).

He said: "We just want to concentrate on winning games and if we keep doing that we'll be on their heels.

"These games are just as important as when we play the top sides. The attitude and application have got to be right and if that's right we should get the three points."

Wimborne Town: (from) Hutchings, Thomas, Jones, Roast, Phillipson-Masters, Bailey-Pearce, McCormick, Vavrecka, James, Stokoe, Joyce, Whitcher, Percival, Arnold, Moore, Walker, Warren.