POOLE Town’s star centre-back Will Spetch is joining Eastleigh’s Skrill Conference South title rivals Sutton United for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £5,000- £7,000.

The 22-year-old defender is set to sign a deal which will keep him with the Us until the summer of 2016.

Having seen his stock rise on the back of some dominant performances at Tatnam, Spetch courted the interest of several Football League clubs and trialled with AFC Bournemouth, Portsmouth, AFC Wimbledon and Port Vale.

In the absence of an offer from the professional ranks, Spetch had vowed to focus on his football with the Dolphins before Sutton’s ex-Eastleigh boss Paul Doswell swooped.

With Poole still very much in the hunt for a Calor Southern Premier play-off place, manager Tom Killick admitted the timing of Spetch’s move was “disappointing from our point of view.”

But he stressed: “When Will signed his contract, we always said we would not be obstructive if anyone came in, particularly if it was an offer of full-time football.”

Sutton, like Eastleigh, train three days a week. They are currently third in the Conference South, five points behind the Spitfires having played one game more. But, form-wise, the U’s – away to rock-bottom Dorchester tomorrow – are the team to watch, having won nine and drawn two of their 11 league games since the turn of the year.

“We felt we needed to do the right thing by Will and that is how it came about,” Killick explained.

“I always said that if Will made it clear he wanted to go, it would make it pretty impossible for us to stand in his way.”

Killick intends to draft in another defender to replace Spetch, but would not be drawn on the prospect of a return for former Poole captain Michael Walker.

Walker is contracted to divisional rivals Weymouth, but has been on the transfer list since December.