Poole Town suffered a 3-2 defeat to Dorchester Town on Easter Monday infront of a bumper crowd of over 2,500 at The Avenue.

Joe Lea and Pat Suraci made two changes from the 4-0 win over Swindon Supermarine with Charlie Davis and Harry Thomas making their way into the starting eleven.

Tensions were high on the day with Dorchester having the chance to cement their place in the playoffs and a win for Poole would have secured survival.

The match got underway with Dorchester settling on the ball and dominating possession early on.

Billy Lowes had the first effort on target for the Dolphins, but his shot was easily dealt with by Noah Crisp in goal.

Moments later and the deadlock was broken as Matt Buse’s effort found its way past Ben Taylor to give Dorchester the lead on the 10^th minute.

Following the opening goal, Poole grew into the match and created a number of chances of their own.

Eventually, the Dolphins pressure came to fruition as Ezio Touray headed home to draw the game level on the 35^th minute.

The half came to an even close at The Avenue with neither side able to get the better of their rivals.

The second half got underway with Dorchester growing in confidence, but Poole still looking dangerous on the break.

It stayed level until the 67^th minute as Ezio Touray scored his second of the game to give the Dolphins the lead and a glimmer of hope of survival on the day.

Only moments later, Dorchester drew the game level again through ex-Dolphin Marcus Daws who fired home at the back stick.

With 15 minutes to play, Wes Fogden was brought down in the area and Olaf Kozsela stepped up and converted to make it 3-2 to Dorchester.

In the dying moments of the match, Billy Lowes was shown a second yellow card and reduced Poole to ten men.

Ezio Touray had a huge chance to salvage a point with the last kick of the match but was unable to keep his shot down and the full-time whistle was blown with Dorchester earning all three points.