POOLE Town were agonisingly close to an injury time winner against Chippenham Town – but Dolphins boss Tom Killick admitted he was relieved to have secured a replay.

In a scrappy encounter, the Chips had the better of the opening half and took the lead two minutes before the break, Alan Griffin rounding Nick Hutchings to score.

Poole played the second half at a higher tempo, but the visitors should have been out of sight when Hutchings pulled off a double save from Griffin at point blank range.

Substitutions added fresh impetus for the Dolphins and they equalised through Steve Smith eight minutes from time after good work down the left by Will Spetch.

Smith then saw a last-ditch effort bobble agonisingly wide of the far post via a deflection, setting up a replay in Wiltshire tomorrow night.

Despite the late surge, Killick was unhappy with his side’s flat display.

“I didn’t think we were very good at all – I was disappointed.

“We didn’t play particularly well and on balance they were probably the better side other than towards the end where we rallied a bit.

“Against Salisbury last week you could make excuses because they are full-time – notwithstanding Chippenham are from the league above, I just expected us to do a bit better than we did.

“All things considered, I feel a little bit fortunate to have got something out of the game – Chippenham were definitely the better side.”

Killick also praised the visitors’ goalscorer Griffin as the experienced striker’s presence was felt at both ends of the pitch.

“Griffin was exceptional and caused us all kinds of problems. Hutch did come to our rescue a couple of times, but I’m disappointed their forwards got as much joy as they did.

“We had to do better in terms of cutting off the supply and defending the one-on-one situations – that is something we have to address on Tuesday because with the amount of dominance that they had, they probably should have scored more than one goal.”

The Dolphins boss concluded with a philosophical outlook on Smith’s injury time chance.

Killick added: “You could tell it was close by everyone’s reaction, but to be honest, if we ended up winning that game it would have been a bit of a travesty.

“We have to be satisfied with a draw and having an opportunity to put things right and remedy our shortcomings.

“It’s an opportunity for us to play a lot better which I know we can do.”

Tomorrow’s replay means that the Dolphins’ home league match with Cinderford Town will have to be rearranged.

Dolphins: Hutchings, Costello (L Clarke, 61), Spetch, S Clarke, Walker, Brooks, Gill (Smith, 70), Hubbard (Skelton, 77), Joyce, Preston, Cann. Unused subs: Bayston, Jones (g/k).