OLD FOE END THE DIAL'S UNBEATEN LEAGUE RUN

Life under new Manager Steve Brown got off to defeat yesterday, after Dial Square slumped to their first league defeat of the season at Laleham & Kempton.
Unfortunately, the contest was more or less over by half-time, as the visitors trailed 4-0 at the break.

The team were missing their new keeper’, new signing Matt Bunyan and Perry Coles, but did start with 3 new signings who had yet to make a league appearance for The Dial.
However, it took 45 minutes before there was any sort of cohesion amongst the team and by that time, the away side were on the wrong end of a 4 goal deficit.

A great solo goal inside 3 minutes from Ethan Bennett showed that this tie meant a lot for the hosts and to give them credit, Laleham were first to most loose balls and were winning most tackles in the early stages. They were certainly the better side from the off. This symptom of not being able to start properly in a match has been an issue since day one of the season, so it is something that clearly needs addressing for the club.

Barely 15 minutes had been played and The Dial found themselves 2-0 down. A neat finish from ex-Basingstoke Town man, Rob Sheridan gave the home side breathing space.
The last 5 minutes of the first half saw Harry Philby net a brace and that was effectively that! 4-0 at the break and it was now a case of damage limitation.

There was indeed much more of a spirited fight back from Dial Square in the second-half and the team looked much better on the ball.
Arafat Kay and Joe Burrell added more resilience and threat to the side and it was Burrell who netted a consolation goal in the 70th minute.
He had a glorious chance to add a second inside the last 10 minutes to make it interesting in the closing stages, but despite making a superb run to receive a great through ball from Tariq Humaid, he swerved his shot just wide.

The game finished 4-1 and there are certainly lessons to be learned for The Dial.

#DialSquareReborn