STRIKER Richard Gillespie, scorer of over 300 goals in his career, has confirmed his immediate retirement from football.

Gillespie, 34, had signed with Dorchester Town but made just five appearances, three from the bench, scoring once against Staines Town in a 6-1 win.

Gillespie linked up with the Magpies from Poole, where the marksman had netted eight goals and assisted three more in 18 appearances for the Dolphins this season.

His move west targeted more game time, however he often played second fiddle to Dorchester’s 20-goal hitman Ben Seymour and battled minor hamstring niggles.

Two offers from Southern League South Division One South clubs came in but Gillespie, who revealed he had contemplated retirement since December, was unwilling to step down a level and called time on a glittering and highly-respected career.

He told Echosport: “To be honest, it had been on my mind for a few months. I only want to play at the level I’m at – the Southern Premier or National League South.

“For me, the most enjoyable part of football is the challenge and dropping down levels is something I never wanted to do.

“I found I wasn’t getting the game time I wanted at Poole, so that’s what led to the move at Dorchester and I wasn’t getting the game time there either.

“I pretty much spent two-and-a-half, three months sat on the bench and I think I only started three games.

“I thought ‘you know what? If I’m not getting in teams at this level then it’s probably a good idea to knock it on the head and call it day,’ simple as that.

“I had a couple of offers from teams below at the top end of that league but I didn’t want to drop down to that level.

“To be honest, two teams at that level might come up but I’ve had a very good career, I’ve been very happy with how it’s gone.

“I made my debut at Bashley at 16, that’s 18 years of football. I’ve done my time in that sense. I just got to the point where I was quite happy to call it a day. It’s been quite nice having my weekends back!”

Gillespie, Bashley’s record scorer with 180 goals in 324 games, listed several achievements among his career highlights.

Perhaps Gillespie’s most conflicted memory was of conceding a 93rd-minute winner to Barrow’s Jason Walker in a 2-1 FA Cup first round loss with Eastleigh in 2009.

He said: “Going back to Bashley and playing with the likes of Steve Riley and winning the league, scoring a hatful of goals and playing with some really good players.

“Moving to Eastleigh and I think collectively the team under-achieved. We had a really good team, we should have been pushing for the Conference South title, but that never worked out.

“When I was at Eastleigh we got to the first round of the FA Cup and ended up letting a goal in in the 93rd minute away to Barrow.

“In one sense that was probably one of the lowest points of my career, but at the same time it was one of the highest.

“It was such a low point because we were so close to having a chance to get them back to our place and progressing to the next round. You were thinking ‘what could’ve been’.

“Then, obviously winning the league with Poole. All in all, being with Poole has probably been my most enjoyable spell, purely because of the success we’ve had on the pitch.

“There’s six or seven lads that have been there the whole time I’ve been there, it’s made it really enjoyable and Tommy (Killick, manager) is a great guy as well.

“I’ve not had too many complaints, looking back, I’m fairly happy with my career.”

With Killick currently serving a six-game stadium ban, Gillespie was in the dugout for Poole’s 3-1 win over Merthyr Town last time out and will again help out coach Micky Hubbard away to second-placed Taunton on Saturday.

However, Gillespie hinted he would not take up management or coaching, adding: “I don’t have any visions to be manager going forward, I think I’ll just enjoy the opportunity for the next couple of weeks whilst it’s there.

“After that I’ll just become a football fan again. Those lads that I played alongside I’ll keep going down and watching. I’ve no formal plans for coaching or management.”