Steve Brown's side looked to be heading for their twelfth consecutive league win since November 2023 after a late brace from Harry Rice put Dial 4-3 ahead, only for Michael Coppinger to equalise for the visitors in the final minutes for a share of the spoils.

Despite receiving a guard of honour from Phoenix before kick-off, Dial found themselves two-goals adrift inside the opening 13 minutes when Dennis Foster and Richard Nightingale took advantage of some lackadaisical defending to give the visitors the lead.

However, Dial got themselves back into the match from Louie Rogers’ pin-point shot from the edge of the box on the half-hour mark. It was a superb goal from the defender.

George Lawrence was inches away from levelling the proceedings two minutes later when his shot ricocheted off the post and his follow-up shot was superbly saved by Jasper Cave.

True to form, Charlie Marshall helped to settle any nerves on the stroke of half-time when he latched onto the end of Lawrence’s cross, before sliding the ball under the arm of Cave to wipe out Phoenix’s early advantage.

Not to be outdone, Sean Crooke’s side pulled ahead again two minutes after the restart when a misunderstanding between Andy Rider and Matt Bunyan enable Freddie Deegan to score.

In a bid to sure-up the backline and add some more potency in the final third, Brown introduced Harry Rice, Sam McDermaid, Will Neville, David Porcher and Sam Jennings to change things up.

Neville almost made an immediate impact when his header was cleared off the line. Dial were then denied what looked to be a clear penalty when Cave brought down Jordan Carter in the box.

Further chances came and went for the Dial; most notably from Neville, who was unable to keep his volley under the bar from Rice’s freekick.

But Dial’s endeavour finally paid off when Rice broke clear of his marker to score twice within three minutes to put Dial 4-3 ahead with just a few minutes remaining.

And just when it looked as though Dial had performed another great comeback, Rider was blindsided by Coppinger’s 88th-minute freekick, which sailed into the top corner to give Phoenix a 4-4 draw at the death.

Speaking after the match, Brown said: “Worplesdon were good value for their draw. We started the game slowly and got punished early on.

“We did well to get ourselves back into the game, but then undid what we did by giving away another sloppy goal at the start of the second half.

“While I don’t want to take any credit away from Worplesdon, who came at us and took their chances well, I thought it was by far our worst performance of the season.

“On the upside, we retain our unbeaten home record,” added Brown.

Dial Square Line-up: Rider, L.Rogers, Vassell (McDermaid), Phillips, Vass (Neville), Bunyan, Carter, Auns (Rice), Marshall, Lawrence (Jennings), Cenzno (Porcher).