Poole Town were well beaten in a 6-1 defeat to Merthyr Town at The BlackGold Stadium on Saturday.
Manager Steve Tully made one change from the 4-1 defeat to Gloucester City with Ade Olumuyiwa making his first appearance for the Dolphins since re-joining the club.
New signing Christos Batzelis made the bench and so did Charlie Davis after returning from a long-term injury.
The game got underway with both sides creating good opportunities early on but neither side able to take the lead.
As the half progressed, Merthyr started to pile on the pressure, but the Poole defence stayed resolute and some fantastic stops from Cam Plain kept the scores goalless.
The deadlock was broken on the 32nd minute after a moment of magic down the left-hand side from Dario De Luca.
After beating his man, he fired a ball into the box and Rafa Ramos managed to fire it home with an audacious finish to open the scoring.
After the goal, it was the hosts who looked more likely to double their lead rather than squander it and probably should have gone into the break with more than one.
The second half commenced with the visitors coming out guns blazing and pinning Poole with their backs up against the wall.
Merthyr eventually equalised the game through a great header from 16-year-old Kobi Preston-Watkins to draw the scores level.
Only moments later, Merthyr took the lead through Lewis Twamley who fired a shot goalwards into the bottom corner.
Top scorer Ricardo Rees made it 3-1 on the hour mark with a fantastic half-volley fired into the side netting.
The game was put out of sight as Rees scored his second of the game on the 69th minute after Kane Simpson set him up for a tap in to make it 4-1.
Despite strong efforts from Tully’s side and impactful substitute appearances from Davis and Batzelis, it was too little too late for the Dolphins who were played off the park in the second half.
Things went from bad to worse for Poole as Merthyr made it five on the 88th minute as Twamley placed it home from close range.
The final nail in the coffin was moments before the full-time whistle as the away side made it 6-1 and Twamley secured his hattrick.
A tough one to take for Tully’s side, especially after a really convincing first 45 minutes, but Merthyr showed their class and proved why they are top of the division.
After the match, Tully said: “At the moment, we just seem to be conceding very openly and soft goals.”
He added: “Merthyr are a top side and we’re miles away from it at the moment.”
