Dial lost valuable ground in the title race after they plummeted to a 4-0 defeat away to Worcester Park today (21 March) in the Surrey Premier County Football League.

A hat-trick from Harrison Deacon, and another from Chris Burke, saw Dial slip to their heaviest defeat of the season, enabling current leaders Wimbledon Casuals to extend their lead at the top of the table to 14 points.

Despite Dial's 7-0 demolition of Addlestone in midweek, they travelled to Worcester light on personnel, with no less than five first team regulars missing. It meant that boss Steve Brown could only name 14 outfield players on the team sheet, with influential winger Danny Taylor also having to withdraw just four hours before kick-off.

The hosts got up to speed quickly on a dry and dusty playing surface at Skinners Field, with George Mead being forced into an early save to push Joe Cheesman’s shot around the post.

However, Mead could do nothing to stop Deacon from opening his account, after the ball feel invitingly to the striker from 12 yards to give The Skinners an eighth-minute lead.

With Dial struggling to get to grips with the new 5-3-2 formation, The Skinners looked to have doubled their lead three minutes later, but they were unable to force the ball home following a goalmouth scramble.

In stark contrast to the wave of attacks four days earlier, Dial’s only effort on goal came courtesy from Finley Rose-Davies, whose shot-on-the-run was charged by Jack Partington from eight yards seven minutes before half-time.

Lapse defending after across the Dial backline gifted Burke with a simple tap-in from one-yard just 90 seconds after the restart to make it 2-0.

Deacon started and finished off a well-worked move to notch his second of the afternoon from close range to extend The Skinners’ advantage in the 68th-minute.

And further uncertainty in Dial’s backline enabled Deacon to nip in to complete his hat-trick five minutes before time to register their ninth-win on the spin in all competitions.

Speaking to DialSquareFC.com after the match, Brown said: “With half-a-dozen players out, we simply weren’t good enough or strong enough in difficult conditions.

“I thought we gave a very poor account of ourselves; all four goals were preventable and we never tested their goalkeeper from start to finish.

“Our game management needs to be 'considerably better' in our remaining league and cup fixtures,” he added.

DIAL SQUARE: Mead, Corner (Federico), Abraham-Barlow (Vass), Hayes (Brown), Marshall, Rogers, Rose-Davies, Ewen, Bicknell, Cenzano, Frith.

MotM: n/a