It was the return of Laleham & Kempton to Dial Square and the resumption of a bitter rivalry from last season’s title campaign.

The last time the two sides met, Dial Square were reduced to 9 men and conceded 2 injury time goals to effectively lose the league title, so this time round, discipline was the order of the day.

It was a sluggish, laboured start and it were the visitors who had the best of the opening exchanges.
With little being given away by both teams, it created a tense battle on the pitch and apart from two wayward efforts, one from Mark Watkins and one from Ed Mckinlay, The Dial failed to threaten the Laleham’s goal at all, during the whole of the first-half.

Laleham grew into the game and kept finding space in front of the back four, but Dial Square held firm and despite Gavin Miller getting booked for a mistimed tackle, it was honours even at the break. 0-0

The second-half is where it started to go wrong for the hosts. Laleham pushed forward and created space within The Dial’s final third. These pockets allowed the visitors to look threatening on the attack and brought about some poorly timed tackles and subsequently, needless dissent, which resulted in bookings for a number of the side.

Just after the hour mark, Dial conceded a penalty when Zach upended their striker after he was put through on goal.
The spot-kick was duly converted and Laleham once again looked like they were heading to another victory over the home side.

Yet, with seconds to go, Arafat Kay came off the bench for the second game in a row to score a wonder-strike, curling the ball over the keeper from 25 yards out.
1-1 and it was very much a point gained, rather than two points dropped.

Focus now turns to next week and another tough fixture at Alwyns Lane, this time against Virginia Water 'Reserves'.

#DialSquareReborn