Dial maintained their 100% home record after beating Selsey 2-0 this evening (13 Oct) in division one of the Southern Combination Football League.

Goals from Aidan Doran and debutante Ben Mitchell continued Dial's rich run of form at Redding Way to move Steve Brown's side up to fourth in the table.

Following a narrow 3–2 defeat away to Saltdean United at the weekend, Brown was eager to return to winning ways, and was boosted by the timely return of George Frith and Danny Taylor to the 16-man squad.

Adam Aziz came close to opening the scoring in the 15th-minute when his freekick beat Alfie Lelliott but drifted just wide of the post.

With Dial firmly in the ascendancy, they did not need to wait long to take the lead when Doran picked his spot, firing across Lelliott into the top corner midway through the first half.

Aziz nearly doubled Dial’s advantage five minutes later, but his curling effort again went just wide of the target.

Selsey offered little threat until just before half-time, when George Douglas denied the visitors an equaliser against the run of play.

Lelliott produced a fine save to stop Joshua Adjei four minutes after the restart, preventing the defender-turned-striker from scoring his fourth goal in almost as many games.

Selsey’s task grew harder when Callum Stockley was sin-binned for dissent, temporarily reducing the visitors to 10-men.

Shortly afterwards, a tight offside call ruled out Charlie Plant’s fifth goal for Dial since joining in August.

Knaphill loanee Mitchell replaced Adjei in a direct swap, with the 21-year-old encouraged to express himself in the final third.

And the young striker almost made an immediate impact but was denied by the feet of Lelliott, who stood his ground well to thwart Mitchell.

With only one-goal the difference, Selsey could, and perhaps should, have equalised midway through the second period, but they failed to convert a scarce opportunity.

Mitchell posed a real threat for the Selsey backline, making some strong runs to help create an opening. And when Danny Taylor came on for Plant, the visitors had some lightning pace to contend with.

With the game calling for another goal, Jimmy Norman’s shot was easily saved by Lelliott, before Mitchell scored a superb solo effort to notch his first and Dial’s second in the 85th-minute.

And Mitchell almost scored a second in the dying embers of the match, but Lelliott pulled off another good save to keep the scoreline respectable. All in all, it was a comfortable win for Dial, where, on another day, 2-0 could so easily have been four or five.

Speaking after the match, Brown said: “I thought the lads bounced back well from the weekend [v Saltdean United]. We dominant the match [v Selsey] from pretty much start to finish and created numerous chances.

“I was pleased that we kept another clean sheet. That’s now six clean sheets in seven matches at Redding Way, and we still haven’t conceded a goal in the league at home, which is quite something. It serves as a positive reflection of the work that the lads are putting in week in week out,” he added.

DIAL SQUARE: Douglas, Ewen, Davis (Apeni), Adeosun, Hayes, Norman. Plant (Taylor), Doran (Frith), Adjei (Mitchell), Hinks, Aziz (Wanyonyi).

MotM: Deji Adeosun