The first away game of the season saw the Dolphins travel to Wiltshire to take on a much improved Laverstock & Ford side. With Trefor Smith and Stuart Brown unavailable, Russell Cook started up front with Charlie Austin and Kevin Gill returned to the right side of the midfield prior to his hernia operation this Friday.

It was evident from the start that Laverstock have certainly made a step forward since last season. They worked extremely hard throughout the game and at no point were Poole able to go into cruise mode with the points secure.

The first twenty minutes were a bit scrappy with neither side gaining the upper hand. Bailey-Pearce had a long range shot tipped over the bar and another from distance well wide of the target. At the other end a Laverstock corner saw a free header thump wide of the left hand post.

The first real chance came on 22 minutes. Austin charged down a clearance wide on the left and he raced in on goal from nearly the halfway line. As the keeper narrowed the angle Austin attempted to curl the ball round him but the shot ended up wide of the right post. A super move on 26 minutes saw Austin knock the ball wide for Gill. His first time cross met the head of Bailey-Pearce and with the keeper beaten the Dolphins were denied when the ball crashed back off the crossbar. A minute later and Russell Cook raced clear but the home keeper pulled off a fine save to keep the scores level.

On 29 minutes a long range effort from Laverstock was heading for the top corner but Nic Jones superbly tipped the ball away for a corner. He had a very good game and looks a tremendous replacement for Harvell so far. Back came Poole with a swift counter-attack involving Taffy Richardson, Hubbard and Whitley. The eventual ball into the box found Bailey-Pearce with more time than he perhaps thought and his rushed header bounced wide of the post.

Half time: 0-0.

Similar to Saturday when it was goalless at half time it was important that Poole try and get the lead as soon as possible after the restart. On Saturday it took five minutes. Tonight it took four. On 47 minutes Austin again showed pure class when he accelerated wide of two defenders before clipping a fine shot over the keeper only to see the ball come back off the far post. However, two minutes later Whitley found him in the box and after taking a touch he drilled the ball low into the bottom left hand corner of the net to open his account for the season.

On 53 minutes a Hubbard corner was headed just over by Lamin Dibba but still Laverstock held on and forced their own chances. On 67 minutes a hopeless looking situation wide on the right suddenly brought about a fantastic cross from almost the corner flag which bounced beautifully at the far post but just wide of the advancing home players. It was a let-off for Poole and a warning that this game was far from finished.

Skelton replaced Kevin Gill and Steve Smith also came on for Cook some eight minutes later.Just before this Austin produced some more magic on 70 minutes when he expertly chested the ball out wide to Cook and after receiving the pass back, Austin nutmegged a defender before unleashing a fierce shot which the home keeper did very well in parrying at point blank range.

A scare for Poole on 81 minutes. Lamin Dibba went down for the second time in the match and this time he was immediately replaced by ex Totton defender and new Poole signing Ross Lloyd. We await to hear if Dibba's injury will keep him out for any length of time.

In the end Poole saw out the game and this was well earned three points. They had to work very hard for the win and after the goals of last season it is likely that Poole will have to grind out many more results like this against teams who are, more than ever, raising their game to keep Poole out.