Poole Town fell to a disappointing 1-0 defeat at the BlackGold Stadium to Frome Town.

Joint managers Joe Lea and Pat Suraci made three changes following the 2-1 defeat to Havant & Waterlooville, Tom Hewlett, Luke Nippard and goalkeeper Cam Plain all came into the starting lineup.

The match got underway on a chilly day in Dorset with the Dolphins expected to build on their performance away to Havant the previous week.

Despite early domination of the ball from Poole, chances were limited in the early stages.

Poole were forced into a first-half substitution with Harvey Slade going off injured and replaced by midfielder Charlie Davis.

Neither side looked capable of opening the scoring within the first 45 minutes with Davis’ free kick being fired into the wall the best chance of the half for the Dolphins.

The first real chance of the game fell to the visitors on the hour mark, but they were unable to test Cam Plain in between the sticks.

Moments later, Poole went up the other end and had a decent chance on goal through Antonio Diaz, but his effort was well saved.

The deadlock was finally broken on the 64^th minute as Albie Hopkins capitalised on a defensive mistake from Cam Plain and opened the scoring through his long-range effort.

With the Frome defensive staying resilient and the Dolphins In search of an equaliser, Davis had an effort on the 76^th minute which went narrowly wide.

Lea and Suraci made multiple changes with the game slowly drifting away from them, but it seemed too little too late for Poole.

The full-time whistle was blown with the visitors taking all three points and Poole dropping down into the relegation zone.

Next up for Poole is a trip to Gosport Borough next Saturday in which a result is vital in their fight for survival.