Dial reclaimed their 19-point lead at the top of the table after coming from behind to beat Lightwater United 3-2 at Alwyns Lane on Thursday (11 April) night.

A scintillating strike from player manager Steve Brown - in the 86th-minute - proved to be the difference as Dial extended their winning run to 16 games in all competitions.

With the league title already in the bag, Brown opted for youth over experience for the visit of The Blues. It included a three-man midfield of Finley Rose-Davies, Sam Jennings and Connor Auns, with an average age of just 21.

For the second time within a week, Dan Cenzano gave Dial the lead after another surging run from the halfway line, which was followed by an exquisite side-foot shot to beat Hadley Witney after just 16 minutes.

Harry Rice had a good opportunity to increase Dial’s advantage midway through the first half, but the striker sliced his shot wide after a great downward header from Will Neville to create the opening.

With Dial firmly in the ascendancy, Rice was unable to find the target when his volley flew wide of the upright and his follow-up shot, three minutes later, went through a crowd of players and past the far post.

Dial were made to rue the missed chances when Charlie Oakley managed to fend off his marker and slide the ball past Richard Ossai – in for the absent Andy Rider – to equalise for the visitors three minutes before half-time.

In a bid to bounce back from their disappointing league cup semi-final exit against Milford & Witley five days earlier, The Blues has no intention of sitting back and allowing Dial to dictate play. And so it proved when Oakley was through on goal again five minutes after the restart, only to be denied by the legs of Ossai, who stood his ground well.

Jacob Cowle then thought he has done enough to give United the lead, but his header was cleared off the line by Jennings with 64 minutes gone.

However, the visitors got their noses in front a minute later when substitute Tommy Roberts managed to head the ball over Ossai after connecting superbly with Matt Lawrence’s looping cross from the right.

United’s lead was short-lived though when George Lawrence threaded the ball through to Charlie Marshall, who accelerated past Alex Raeburn before slotting the ball past Witley from a wide angle to level the proceedings.

And with just four minutes remaining, Brown, who came on as a 75th-minute substitute, unleashed an unstoppable 25-yard drive to send the home faithful wild to make it 3-2. A real goal of the season contender.

Rice and Lawrence both had opportunities to make the scoreline more comfortable in the dying embers of the match, but they were denied by Witley.

Speaking after the match, Brown said: “It was a good opportunity to make several changes to the starting line-up with some players away and others returning after a short absence.

“Inevitably, the changes meant that some players were playing out of position so it took us a while to get going. At times, it was a bit frantic, so credit to Lightwater who worked hard and took their chances. I thought Ozzy [Richard Ossai] pulled off a couple of good saved too.

“Even when we were chasing the game at 2-1, I always thought that we had the mentality to get ourselves back in the game, which we did. On reflection, I actually think we could have won the game by four or five goals with the chances we had.

“All in all, it was a great game for bystanders, with five well-taken goals. It was good to see good support for both teams,” added Brown.

Dial Square line-up: Ossai, Phillips, Porcher (Vassell), Rose-Davies, Linturn (Bunyan), Neville, McDermaid (Marshall), Jennings (Lawrence), Rice, Auns (Brown), Cenzano

MotM: Finley Rose-Davies