VICE-chairman Chris Reeves has vowed Poole Town will take the “strongest and most robust action” to deal with a group of followers which has attached itself to the club.

Concern among the Tatnam club’s board and supporters has grown after a lit smoke bomb was thrown on to the playing surface and another set off during the second half of Thursday’s friendly at AFC Totton.

Police were called to assist stewards in ejecting those thought to be responsible for the incident at Testwood Park.

Some members of the group later tried to regain entry by climbing the fence and opening a gate in another area of the ground. Police attended for a second time and they were moved on. The matter is understood to have been referred to the Football Association (FA).

Poole encountered similar problems towards the back end of last season but while the club faces an onerous task to identify each of the individuals involved, Reeves is determined to stamp out any future breaches of ground regulations.

Reeves told the Daily Echo: “We are distinctly unhappy at the group of so-called supporters who have latched on to our club and will be doing everything on our power to ensure our games get conducted in the way non-league football is famous for.

“It is one of the beauties of our level of the game that you simply don’t hear of crowd trouble with the exception of very isolated incidents and we are very proud of playing our part in upholding that reputation at Poole Town.

“We will be doing everything in our power to ensure these incidents are not repeated and that those responsible are not granted entry to the ground.

“It is extremely difficult bearing in mind we don’t know them. We had professional stewards at Saturday’s game (at home to Gosport) who had specific instructions to deny access to the ground to anyone giving the impression of being part of that group.

“As it happened, they didn’t turn up but we will remain vigilant as a club.

“The intention is to re-draft the ground regulations and make sure they are prominently displayed outside the ground with a very firm indication that the club reserves the right to refuse admission.

“Within reason, we want to take the strongest and most robust action to preserve our good name and the enjoyment factor that is so prominent at our games at Tatnam.”