BOSS Tom Killick wasn’t too impressed with his side’s narrow win over rivals Dorchester, but praised his side for an improvement in their approach.

Killick had called for his side to become "more resilient" after a poor 3-1 defeat at home to Farnborough, and his charges certainly showed a grittier side to eventually overcome the Magpies 1-0, thanks to a Sean Wright goal.

Speaking to the Daily Echo, Killick said: “I think in the first half it was as poor as I can remember us being for a long time. (Against) Farnborough wasn’t particularly good, but at least we passed the ball around well for the first half an hour.

“(On Monday) I thought they were much better than us in all areas. I think they can count themselves quite unlucky that they didn’t get anything from the game. They had an awful lot of possession but they didn’t really create an awful lot with it.

“That was their downfall – they didn’t really have much of a cutting edge. We were able to take advantage of that.

“We talked about how after the Farnborough game, we needed to be a bit more dogged and grind things out when we’re not at our best.

“(Monday) was a classic example really. We defended well, and we took an opportunity when it arose.”

In a tight first half with little action, stalwart captain Jamie Whisken was forced off with a groin injury after just 18 minutes, needing to be replaced by Wright.

Wright would find himself involved in the other flashpoint of the first half, when he turned home the opener shortly before the break.

Will Spetch flicked the initial free-kick on towards the back post, with Wright steaming into the box to nod past former Wimborne keeper Gerard Benfield.

“I thought Sean Wright was exceptional,” continued Killick.

“It wasn’t just a good performance, it was an excellent performance. To come into a local derby, the hurly-burly of it, quite early on and try and get into the pace of it as a defender takes some doing.

“I just felt he was great. It was a good goal, and he won pretty much every header he went up against. He didn’t make any mistakes. He was just very accomplished.”

Thanks to the victory, Poole now sit just outside the playoffs in the nascent league table, on nine points in sixth place.

Dolphins: Childs, Rose, Jackson, Spetch, Whisken (Wright, 18), Moore, Bartlett (Carmichael, 72), Bedford, Burbidge (Fletcher, 78), Holmes, Lee.

Unused subs: Hubbard, Wickham.