Dial boss Steve Brown branded his players’ performance as a “wake-up call” after his talented side conceded a 1-0 lead and were second best for large parts of the game.

Prior the match, the hosts had only won two of their opening eight league outings. However, Dial have never found the going easy against the Guildford-based side, with only one-goal separating their two previous meetings.

Dial set the early pace, with Jordan Carter and Dan Cenzano both being denied by Surrey goalkeeper Xander Brown.

But it was the hosts that came closest to opening the scoring when Andy Rider was judged to have brought down (19') Ben Fox in the box. Justice was served though when Rider saved Fox’s spot-kick to keep the scores at bay.

Ten minutes later, Dial captain Will Neville was sin-binned for alleged dissent, which reduced the visitors to 10-men.

However, no sooner had Neville returned to the field, Harry Rice pulled away from his marker to slot the ball home (43’) from close range after some good work from Carter in the box.

Carter had an opportunity to extend Dial’s advantage six minutes after the break, but he drove his free-kick straight into the four-man wall.

While the hosts started to marshall the midfield, they were gifted an equaliser (59’) when Rider mishandled Fox’s long-range shot, which spilled into the net.

The introduction of Matt Bunyan provided a much-needed aerial option in the final third for The Dial. And when Bunyan flicked the ball on for Carter, it looked as though there would only be one outcome. Unfortunately, Carter’s shot hit the crossbar with Brown well-beaten.

Dial were made to rue their missed opportunities when Matt Hayes’ low shot from 15 yards beat the outstretched arm of Rider to give the hosts the lead after 88 minutes.

Connor Auns came close to levelling the scores in the dying embers of the match, but his snap-shot on the volley hit the side netting, as the University of Surrey went on to claim a well-deserved victory. It ended Dial’s 11-match unbeaten run in all competitions.

Speaking after the match, Brown said: “Without wanting to take anything away from the University of Surrey’s performance, I thought we were miles off where we needed to be against them.

“We were lethargic and naïve with our game management, so we will need to up our game considerably when we play Farncombe and Ripley - who are third and second in the table - in the next two weeks.

“Every team can have a bad day at the office; my players know their performance was well-below par. The important thing now is their mentality to bounce back and kick-on,” added Brown.

Dial line-up: Rider, McDermaid, Neville, Vass, Linturn, Rose-Davies, Lawrence, Phillips, Rice, Carter, Cenzano. Subs: Bunyan, Auns, Jennings, Vassell, Maunders.