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Tuesday 13th July 2021

Kick Off 19.00 Actual 18.58

Knaphill Athletic 3 Dial Square 5, attendance 27

4’ 0-1

8’ 0-2

36’ 0-3

53’ 1-3 (pen)

67’ 2-3 (pen)

74’ 3-3

79’ 3-4

87’ 3-5

@ St. Peter’s Recreation Ground

Ford Road

Old Woking

GU22 9HJ

No Admission or Programme.

Originally, Bagshot were supposed to be the opposition tonight, but they pulled out of the game yesterday evening. Thankfully, due to the magic of Twitter, within an hour of the call off, Dial Square had stepped in to take their place. They are the club formed by Arsenal fans (Dial Square was their original name when they were formed) disgruntled at the way their club was being run by the American owners.

Knaphill Athletic had finished last season in bottom place of the Surrey County Intermediate League (Western), whilst Dial Square sat second bottom of the Guildford & Woking Alliance League Premier Division (North) when their season was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Considering the poor condition of the pitch, with sunken areas in the six yard boxes and grass that was far too long for football, the two teams put on an excellent show. Dial Square, who only officially begin their pre-season preparations next week, raced into a 0-3 lead, which they held until early in the second half and looked a really good side. The longer the game went on, the more they tired, and having pulled it back to 2-3, courtesy of a couple of penalties, it was no surprise that Knaphill Athletic levelled it up at 3-3 with sixteen minutes left. It looked like only one team was going to win it from here, but Dial Square responded with two late goals to win it 3-5.

Former Arsenal player Ian Selley (substitute in both the 1993 F.A. Cup Final Replay and League Cup Final versus Sheffield Wednesday, as well as playing in the Cup Winners’ Cup Final win against Parma in Copenhagen the following year), who is now 47, made an appearance for Dial Square tonight. Still looked good on the ball.