PROUD boss Tom Killick saluted Poole Town’s belligerent pursuit of Southern League points but warned his troops: “The biggest battles are yet to come”.

Dolphins maintained their unbeaten start to the season and racked up their ninth consecutive win in all competitions by cruising to a comfortable 3-1 success over Premier Division strugglers Arlesey.

After a sloppy start, Poole gradually grasped control of proceedings and opened the score on 17 minutes when Jamie Whisken set Luke Burbidge away on a mazy run which ended with the winger finding the bottom corner of the net.

Carl Preston had a sweetly-struck volley hacked off the line by Kelvin Bossman but Arlesey’s reprieve was short-lived as prolific defender Michael Walker, making his 150th appearance for the Dolphins, notched his fourth goal of the campaign by stroking home Mike Gosney’s corner.

Chances came and went for Preston and Mark Jermyn after the break but Gosney soon plundered number three from the penalty spot after referee Daniel Leach saw a handball.

As the match petered out, Mark Gallagher blotted Poole’s copybook with a consolation strike, while midfielder Marvin Brooks, making his long-awaited return from injury as a second-half substitute, limped off after taking a whack to the same troublesome ankle.

But despite the late setbacks, Killick couldn’t hide his delight over the Tatnam outfit dropping just two points from their opening 10 league fixtures.

Assessing Poole’s start to the season, Killick told the Daily Echo: “I think we have done really well. We have to realise that we have had a friendly run of fixtures to start and while there have been difficult games among them, we haven’t played many teams you would consider real challengers.

"That said, you still have to beat these sides and some of the other results on Saturday proved that. Weymouth lost at Histon, Cambridge came unstuck at Frome and Hungerford would have hoped to get something from Dorchester.

“Our rivals have slipped up in fixtures that looked relatively straightforward and we haven’t. We have done what we needed to so far but we know we have tougher matches to come.”

On Saturday’s success, he continued: “Arlesey looked reasonably lively going forward but it was plain sailing after we had scored the first goal.

“The one thing that did disappoint me was the fact it got quite scrappy once we went two up, there was no real fluency for a period which was a shame.”

Meanwhile, the manager was hopeful Brooks would be missing for too long following his latest knock.

“It is the same ankle but it’s a different injury and we hope it’s not as serious as last time. It was a frustrating end to a good day,” said Killick.

Dolphins: Hutchings, Tallack, Emmer- son, Walker, Whisken, Pettefer, Burbidge (Munday, 67), Jermyn (Brooks, 62), O'Hanlon, Preston (Roberts, 62), Gosney. Unused subs: Lindsay, Martin.