Dial crashed out of this season's Isuzu FA Vase at the first hurdle after going down 4-0 away to Minster at Hartsdown Park Stadium on Saturday (15 Aug).

A hat-trick from Ollie Harris and another from Jake Munday gave the newly promoted Southern Counties East Football League Division One side a resounding victory in front of 188 fans in Margate.

For Dial, the dream of advancing to the second qualifying round was almost over before it started when Harris gave the hosts an early lead. From thereon, it was always going to be an uphill struggle in a match where Dial were largely second best throughout, and failed to register a single shot on target to make the trip back to northwest Surrey an even longer drive.

Dial were hamstrung going into the match, with captain Jimmy Norman and vice-captain George Frith both unavailable due to the later kick-off time. The armband then passed to Charlie Marshall to lead the side out in Margate.

Harris gave Minster a dream start – in what was also their first ever FA Vase fixture – when he raced in at the back post to slot home Harry Hobday’s low cross after just 13 minutes.

Seven minutes later, influential winger Daniel Wanyonyi limped off due to a hamstring strain, as Dial were notably on the backfoot in the early exchanges.

Callum Abraham-Barlow had Dial’s first shot of the match when his 25-yard drive flew just after the bar on the half-hour mark.

At the other end, Dial twice managed to scramble the ball away from a corner-kick with the visitors looking more likely to score again.

Minster defender Matt Weatherley then looked to have up-ended Daniel Cenzano from behind, denying the striker of a clear goalscoring opportunity, but the referee was not for turning and waved play on.

With Dial more in the hunt, George Lawrence and Cenzano both had half chances to equalise before the break, but neither could find the target from distance as the hosts’ backline held firm on the edge of the penalty box.

Minster got back into their stride after the break, with Harris doubling his tally in the 57th-minute to extend the Kent side's advantage.

Two almost became three when Munday fired over eight minutes later, before the frontman passed up an even better opportunity to score when his attempted lob over Callum Miles dropped wide of the near post. They then hit the post a minute a minute later as the hosts ratcheted the number of chances at goal.

Dial continued to persevere, with new signing Matt Hinks and Adam Aziz driving through the midfield. However, all too often the hosts cut out the final pass as balls into the box proved scarce.

After twice going close earlier on, Munday rifled the ball into the top right-hand corner from 16 yards to give the visitors an unassailable 3-0 lead in the 81st-minute.

Abraham-Barlow was inches away from reducing the arrears three minutes later, but his shot from the edge of the box clipped the top of the bar with Dane Bough beaten.

There was no way back though for Dial when Harris calmly slotted the ball past Miles from close range to complete his hat-trick in stoppage time to set up a second qualifying round tie away to Kennington.

Speaking after the match, Dial boss Steve Brown said: “Baring the first 20 minutes or so, I thought we were the better side, but we lacked creativity in the final third.

“For me, it was another game of moments. Had a couple of decisions gone our way, then the outcome might have been different. However, if you concede goals in the manner that we’ve conceded goals in the past couple of games, then you’re always going to be fighting an uphill battle. So, that’s something that we need to address, and quickly.”

DIAL SQUARE: Miles, Adjei (Taylor), Abraham-Barlow, Ewen (Oyebola), Hayes, Marshall (Abbey), Aziz, Hinks, Cenzano, Lawrence (Davis), Wanyonyi (Taylor).

MOTM: Matt Hayes