POOLE boss Tom Killick admitted a sense of relief after his charges negotiated a tricky trip to Merthyr, describing Dolphins’ 3-0 win as a “professional job”.

Relegation-zone Merthyr have started to show signs of recovery in recent weeks – pulling off a shock win at play-off chasing Metropolitan Police at the weekend.

Nervy ahead of the game, Killick told the Daily Echo: “I just felt a bit relieved and happy that we did such a professional job. I was a bit anxious about the game to be honest.

“That’s four league wins on the spin, which has put us in a far healthier position than we were when we embarked on that run.

“I was a little bit worried about this fixture, because I knew they had new players, I knew about the Met Police result.

“I tried to warn the players that they had to be in the eye of the storm a little bit, in terms of how Merthyr started.”

The first half was a cagey affair with both sides unable to break each other down.

In-form Tony Lee must have thought he had the opener just before the break when he managed to round goalkeeper Jaimie Cogman.

Forced out wide by the keeper, Lee did well to curl a shot towards the empty net from a tight angle – only for Merthyr defender Ismail Yakubu to hurl his body onto the line to keep scores level.

Shortly after the break Lee was not to be denied again, rounding off a lovely team move to grab his 17th goal of the campaign.

After taking the lead, Poole kept attacking with numbers – eventually leading to a second, when Dan Bartlett’s long-range effort was sent past Cogman via a very kind deflection.

Ex-Cherries youngster Josh Carmichael got in on the action 10 minutes from time, heading home from a corner to seal the game off.

“I just felt very pleased,” continued Killick. “It’s not very often you feel the game is won before the end.

“It’s the best thing in the world as a manager, because instead of having 90 minutes of torture, the torture is a little bit shorter!”

Dolphins: Childs, Rose, Genesini (Wickham, 69), Whisken, Spetch (Wright, 69), Bartlett, Carmichael, Holmes, Lee (Fletcher, 76), Moore, Dickson

Unused subs: Gillespie, Hubbard