JASON Matthews described his side’s heavy defeat against title rivals Poole Town as “tough to take”, but refused to give up his side’s Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division title challenge.

Four goals in a 30-minute blitz by the Dolphins during the second half at Tatnam put pay to Weymouth’s bid to win their Dorset derby encounter.

The Terras’ player-manager admitted that all the momentum is now with Poole boss Tom Killick’s charges, who now sit two points clear in the league with three games in hand.

Matthews told Echosport: “I am bitterly disappointed, and I will go away and have a think about my own game, hopefully the lads will do the same.

“It looks like we have taken a stuffing and for me that is tough to take. I felt the first half was very even and the game could have gone either way.

“Poole played well, especially Steve Devlin, he is someone I rate, but we need to pick ourselves up and go again on Saturday.” Commenting on the title race, the Weymouth player-manager added: “We need to dig in and stay strong now, we have a lot of the top sides coming up. If we win a lot of games we are still in the hunt.

“None of my teams will ever roll over as long as I am a manager. If that happens too many times, I won’t be a manager anymore because that’s not me as a person.”