A FOUR-GOAL haul from George Lawrence helped Dial sweep aside Parkside 6-0 in the first round of the Surrey FA Saturday Intermediate Cup at Alwyns Lane last Saturday (1 November).

A brace from Lawrence in both halves, and one each from Michael Campbell (né Burton) and Jordan Carter, booked Dial's place in the next round of the competition on a day that had plenty of twists and turns.

Despite passing an early morning pitch inspection, the match almost didn’t go ahead after a six-foot square area of the playing surface was still sodden 30 minutes before kick-off. In an unusual move, it prompted Lawrence to turn from winger to sweeper to shift the standing water to get the game on.

Having managed to overcome one hurdle, Dial were also depleted on personnel, with Danny Taylor, Louie Rogers and Darren Xavier all ineligible to play in the county cup. George Frith, Jimmy Norman and Callum Abraham-Barlow were also unavailable for the fixture.

The visitors almost capitalised when Joe Woolhouse dragged his shot agonisingly wide in the fourth-minute, before seeing his curling shot rebound off the post four minutes later.

It proved to be the catalyst that Dial needed when Lawrence was given time to turn outside his marker and riffle a low shot past Jack Minchin from the edge of the box to give the hosts an 11th-minute lead.

In the minutes that ensued, Lawrence and Zak Hawker were both denied by Minchin. But the shot-stopper was helpless to Dial’s second-goal when Lawrence managed to evade two challenges on the edge of the box before picking his spot past Minchin midway through the first half.

At the other end, George Mead stood his ground well to thwart Woolhouse after the striker procrastinated in front of goal. Aidan Phillips then limped off after pulling his hamstring, which could see him sidelined until after Christmas.

However, the visitors were back-peddling again when Campbell was given time to turn on the edge of the box to unleash a fierce 20-yard drive shot past Minchin to notch his first and Dial’s third goal in the 38th-minute.

A spectacular overhead kick from Dan Cenzano two minutes after the break was inches away from extending Dial’s lead. Albeit Dial's fourth was never in doubt when Carter added a fourth from the penalty spot after being upended in the box in the 58th-minute.

Unrelenting, four became five in the 62rd-minute when Carter turned provider for Lawrence, who coolly tucked away his third and second hat-trick for Dial since joining the club in 2021.

And the visitors' woes were made worse when Jamie Jones was sub-binned in the 83rd-minute for dissent, which paved the way for Lawrence to bundle home his fourth in the 88th-minute to round-off the scoring spree.

Speaking after the match, Dial boss Steve Brown said: “It was great to score six goals; particularly for George [Lawrence] to score four of them, and keep a clean sheet.

“In some matches, I’ve felt that we needed to be more clinical in front of goal, but that wasn’t the case against Parkside.

“While the scoreline probably flattered us a little, we worked hard and certainly deserved to win. I think our fitness and extra bit of quality shined through as the match wore on.

“Credit to Parkside, though, they never gave up and played the game at a high intensity which made for a good footballing occasion,” he added.

The win extends Dial’s unbeaten run to eight in league and cup competitions.

DIAL SQUARE: Mead, Phillips (Corner), Vass (Vassell), Hawker, Marshall, Bunyan, Carter, Adag, Burton (Laflin), Lawrence, Cenzano (Doran). Unused Sub: Brown

MotM: George Lawrence

The draw for the next round of the Saturday Intermediate (County) Cup will be published here.