BOSS Eddie Howe has given his backing to Poole Town’s title bid and says promotion for Cherries’ non-league neighbours would benefit greatly both clubs.

The Dolphins tomorrow host Corby Town at Tatnam bidding to be crowned Southern League champions and win a place in next season’s Conference South (3pm kick-off).

Currently level on points with Corby, a draw would be enough to take Poole up due to their superior goal difference while defeat would hand the title to the Steelmen.

Howe has given his blessing to a host of Cherries players joining Poole on loan with teenagers Mason Walsh, Matt Butcher and Joe Quigley expected to feature in the eagerly-awaited showdown under the watchful eye of development coach Stephen Purches who will be among the crowd.

Harry Cornick, unearthed at Wessex League Christchurch by Howe, and Josh Carmichael are also on the promotion trail and will be hoping to help Havant & Waterlooville prevail in the Conference South play-offs which start next week.

Howe told the Daily Echo: “We really like the people at Poole Town. They have an excellent manager in Tom Killick and a good board of directors so we certainly wish them all the best. It would be great to see a team local to us get promotion and move up the leagues.

“It would help in many ways. The younger players we loan to the club would get valuable experience at a higher level and the standard of non-league football locally would improve for supporters of the game.

“We have a good relationship with Poole and Havant & Waterlooville and it would be great to see them both go up for a number of reasons.

“Loaning players to clubs close to us has a huge benefit for all concerned. It means the players can keep training with us while playing and developing their careers in game situations.

“As our club goes higher, the opportunities for younger players become more difficult so the next best way to develop them is the loan route and to get them playing in levels like the Conference and Conference South would only serve us well.”

Howe has previously revealed he was first alerted to the talents of Charlie Austin after reading about the striker’s exploits for Poole in the Daily Echo.

And although a transfer embargo prevented Howe from signing Austin for Cherries in 2009, he eventually made him his first addition after he had taken over as manager at Burnley.

Austin, who yesterday took to Twitter to send his best wishes to the Dolphins, left Burnley for QPR in a £4million move at the start of last season and is one of the leading goalscorers in the Premier League.

Howe added: “We continue to look in non-league because as Charlie Austin’s story tells you, there are some very good players at grassroots level and that is down to some very good coaches who do sterling work.”