Dial eased their way in the semi-finals of the Surrey Premier County Football League - Premier Challenge Cup after a convincing 3-0 win against Richmond & Kew today (24 Jan) at Royal Holloway Sports Centre.

Despite passing up home advantage [due to Alwyns Lane being waterlogged], Dial never looked troubled by their Southwest London opponents, who had Eduard Sferciuc to thank to prevent the scoreline from potentially running into double figures.

Dial boss Steve Brown made two changes to the starting eleven that beat AFC Cubo in the league the previous week, with Bradley Sweeney coming in for Zac Hawker (injured), and Dan Cenzano receiving the nod to lead the line in the absence of Harry Rice.

And Cenzano came close to giving Dial an early lead when he connected with a superb low cross from James Vass, only to be denied by a point-blank save from Sferciuc.

Minutes later, a flick-shot from Jordan Carter went just over the bar, before a near text-book volley from George Frith dipped just too late to trouble Sferciuc, as Richmond struggled to gain a foothold in the game.

True to form though, Dial managed to get their noses in front when Frith squared the ball to Sweeney on the edge of the box, who turned and fired the ball into the top right-hand corner on the half-hour mark.

Despite posing little threat in the final third, Finlay Croxford passed up the visitors’ only opportunity of the half to get back on level terms when he headed wide of the target after Cameron Harrison’s point-point cross.

With the wind in their sail, Dial managed to double their lead two minutes after the break when Louie Rogers’ low cross fell to Danny Taylor, who coolly slotted home from four yards.

Shortly after, Cenzano rifled a shot straight at Sferciuc, before twice firing wide in quick succession as the onslaught began.

Sferciuc then pulled off a superb save to deny Vass’ half-volley through a crowd of players, with Carter unable to steer home the follow-up in what was a fine goalkeeping display.

With the wind in their sail, Tom Adag guided his header wide, before Sferciuc pulled off another save to deny Taylor midway through the second half.

Carter then hit the post after Sferciuc had saved his initial effort, with Adag’s shot meeting the same fate in what was proving to be a remarkable turn of events.

But when Callum Abraham-Barlow made it 3-0 10 minutes from time, there was no way back for the visitors, who were probably happy to walk away having only conceded three goals.

Speaking after the match, Brown said: “I thought the lads put in an excellent shift against a decent Richmond & Kew side.

“It was another match where I thought we dominated and limited the opposition to a few half chances on goal.

“There were a lot of stand-out performances, particularly from Louie Rogers, George Frith and Bradley Sweeney.

“If I’m being picky, the only negative was that we didn’t score more goals, but that shouldn’t detract from what an impressive all-round performance,” added Brown.

DIAL SQUARE: Mead, Rogers, Vass (Corner), Frith, Hayes (Federico), Norman, Carter, Adag (Doran), Cenzano (Abraham-Barlow), Sweeney, Taylor (Rose-Davies).

MotM: Louie Rogers