POOL played well in a 3-1 defeat in their West Yorkshire League Division One match at high-flying Boroughbridge on Saturday.

Hoping to repeat the quality of their first encounter at Pool, the visitors' played well but it took an excellent save from keeper Andy Doey to prevent their hosts taking an early lead.

Midway through the half, Boroughbridge did gain the advantage, but Pool levelled before the interval when Ryan Firth won a difficult ball and Sandro Balde took over to find space and power his shot wide of the keeper.

Early in the second half, Pool looked comfortable, having the bulk of possession, but Boroughbridge's first move forward resulted in a goal from nothing, putting Pool's backs against the wall once more.

Boroughbridge then sealed the points with a third, and could have had more, but the Pool defence and keeper kept them out.

At the other end, there were some late chances from some positive football.

With other results not going Pool's way, they now have a lot of work to do if they are to avoid the drop.

They have upcoming fixtures against all the teams around them in the relegation zone, and may well need to win them all.

Pool have produced plenty of encouraging performances to suggest they can do this, but they just need that elusive victory to get the ball rolling.

In the West Yorkshire League Alliance Division Two, Pool Reserves suffered another heavy defeat, losing 5-1 to Boroughbridge Reserves in a game of two halves.

A sound first half performance trailed off in the second, and Adam Dean scored Pool's consolation goal.

PETER WILKINSON