DORCHESTER Town manager Tom Killick rued “incorrect” big decisions as his long-awaited reunion with former club Poole Town ended in a 2-1 defeat at the Avenue Stadium.

Poole dominated the first half and deservedly led 2-0 when Toby Holmes headed Matt Tubbs' side in front against his former employers before Corby Moore’s own goal.

Dorchester rallied in the second half and appeared unlucky not to be awarded a penalty when Will Spetch sustained a heavy challenge in the area.

And Dorchester were further perturbed when Olaf Koszela’s close-range finish was overturned for offside, despite a Poole player appearing to be in front of him.

READ MORE: Dorchester Town 1-2 Poole Town - report

Spetch’s late goal fanned the flames of a fervent atmosphere generated by 1,615 fans, but the Magpies’ faithful went home disappointed after Lloyd Thomas saved Shaq Gwengwe’s last-ditch penalty.

Dorchester are now in 20th and have only won 11 matches in 2023. Killick, though, had cause for complaint in the second half.

Assessing a costly first half and the controversial moments, he told Echosport: “First half I thought we were terrible.

“Considering it’s a local derby and a game people have been looking forward to for a while, I thought we were very below par physically.

“We just didn’t have any proper physicality or aggression about us. The goals we conceded were unbelievably soft.

“As bad as we’ve been in the first half, I knew if we rallied and scored a goal, I did feel the game would change.

“We felt their mentality was such that if we scored and got back into it they’d find it very difficult.

“That’s how it proved. They became very flaky and we were dominating. Then, we feel gutted with the penalty we’ve missed at the end.”

On the big decisions, he added: “We’re exceptionally aggrieved by the decisions that came before that. Everyone in the ground can see that the first one is a penalty.

“That would just give us a bit longer to chase the next goal. I’m proud of how they played in the second half, very disappointed with the first half showing.

“Once again, there’s been some very incorrect big decisions again.

“To be fair, the first penalty, I looked at the referee. He had a lot of people in his way but their linesman’s looking straight at it.

“He’s got the gumption to flag and disallow the goal but clearly the penalty he’s not prepared to get involved.

“Again, for the goal he’s disallowed you can see there’s a player on the line. It’s not offside.

“When it’s that clearly wrong and he puts his flag up, if he’s not sure, he shouldn’t be giving it. To put his flag up when it’s so clearly wrong is unbelievably disappointing.

“I felt sorry for the ref from that point of view, it’s the linesman’s errors on both occasions.

“Once again, we can’t dwell on it. We’ve paid the price for a very poor first half.”