KYLE Critchell praised the all-round performance of his Portland United side after they pushed Step 3 giants Poole Town to a narrow 4-3 win.

Portland’s Archie Woolford was particularly unlucky to end up on the losing side, scoring a hat-trick for the Blues.

However, goals from former Weymouth and Dorchester trio Antonio Diaz, Charlie Davis and Billy Lowes, the latter with a long-range brace, spared the Dolphins’ blushes.

Speaking to Portland’s media team, Critchell said: “What impressed me most was that we were really setting those traps and triggers, looking to be positive when we could be.

READ MORE: Portland United 3-4 Poole Town - report

“I spoke to Archie before, he kind of didn’t believe me. He has the ability to go a level, potentially two levels (above) where he played.

“Archie’s fell in and out of love with football over the period he’s been involved in it. It’s my job to try and keep him excited, keep him fresh.

“He’s got huge potential and he showed that, with and without the ball, the understanding of what we want from him.

“Not just Archie, the older lads like Besso (Shaun Bessant) who I thought was superb.

“Most of the players did perform to the standards we set. We can’t get too high, we’ve lost the game. At the same time, that’s the type of performance I want.”

Critchell highlighted the calibre of Poole’s team, adding: “The quality they’ve got, they’ve got some fantastic players and were clinical at times.

“We both hit the bar, we both hit the post. It was a really offensive game at times, lots to be positive about and lots more than Blandford (5-2 win).

“I thought we stepped our levels up dramatically but it’s now about maintaining those standards so we can continue with that momentum.”

Portland are now set for a behind-closed-doors friendly at Wimborne Town on Saturday (11am) ahead of their final friendly on Saturday, July 27 at home to Holt United (3pm).

Critchell added: “It’s just getting back to training, having a bit of fun. Not necessarily the load is important now.

“It’s just nailing down the finer details that we didn’t necessarily do that well. We can do that in match-time scenarios in training.

“We’ve also got a behind-closed-doors game. It’s Wimborne but unfortunately our pitch is in a situation where we’ve spent a lot of money on it and we want to make sure it’s right.

“Darren, Stuart and Lewis do a fantastic job of maintaining that. We would’ve liked to have had those friendlies at home but we just couldn’t have done it.

“Thank you to Wimborne for hosting us but it’s going to be on their 3G. It’s a low-key event which we will give our lads another opportunity to play against another high-quality side.

“It was very last minute, so thank you to them.”