POOLE Town boss Tom Killick is desperate for tomorrow’s clash with Stratford Town to go ahead – but not if it means using a below-par pitch.

Dolphins could extend to five points their lead at the top of the Southern Premier with victory in the rescheduled fixture at the DCS Stadium (7.45pm).

And with vital points on the line, Killick is keen to make the 290-mile round trip to Warwickshire worthwhile.

Killick told the Daily Echo: “The overall emotion is that we want to play but we don’t want to play if conditions become farcical. The result then becomes a bit of a lottery.

“When we played at Frome on Boxing Day, the game was barely playable and we ended up dropping points when we felt that if it had been a decent surface, we would have won.

“You want to play but you want the conditions to be reasonable.”

The fixture with Stratford was rescheduled from Saturday, January 9 but Killick was relatively unfazed by the prospect of the lengthy journey north.

He said: “Away postponements on a Saturday are always very unwelcome because of the demands they put on you of getting to a place on a Tuesday evening.

“It’s not ideal but we aren’t anything like as badly off this season in terms of the travelling and the pressures on the squad. We’ll be positive about it and will see if we can get the result.

“I would imagine the game has to be in some doubt. Although the weather is a little bit more favourable up there, they had their home game called off on Saturday.”

Steve Devlin and Michael Walker should recover from knocks.

  • Poppies travel to Fareham Town in the Sydenhams Wessex Premier while Lymington Town entertain Whitchurch United.

Christchurch are also in action with Downton their opponents in a Wessex One clash at Brian Whitehead Sports Ground.

Tomorrow, Verwood Town travel to Fawley in the Wessex Premier and New Milton visit Fleet Spurs in Wessex On (all games 7.45pm).