Dee travelled to Greenisland on Saturday to take on BHSFP in a Championship league game. They knew it would be a stiff test as the hosts were in the race for a playoff spot. The Dee welcomed back Phil Eadie and Pete Causby to play prop and scrumhalf respectively and Owen Roberts started in the second row in place of the injured Sam Moore.

Dee got off to a dreadful start when, after only two minutes on the clock, an attempted offload went into the arms of the BHSFP centre who ran in to score under the posts. The easy conversion gave the hosts a 7-0 lead.

The Dee worked their way into the BHSFP 22 but were not able to convert any opportunities into points. BHSFP went further ahead after fifteen minutes with a successful penalty after Dee were penalised for a high tackle.

For the rest of the half the home team enjoyed the majority of both possession and territory and the Dee struggled to put any phases of play together. This pressure eventually paid off on the half hour mark when the BHSFP winger went over in the corner for an unconverted try.

In the final play of the half the lead was stretched further when the centre put a delicate kick over the Dee’s defensive line and the winger gathered and scored out wide. This time the difficult conversion was successful to take the half time score to 22-0 to the hosts.

As the second half began the faithful travelling Dee supporters were somewhat relieved to see that the stern words from the coaches during the break was having an effect. Dee immediately set up camp in the BHSFP 22 and after several attempts it was Chris Hamilton who forced his way over to score. Adam McGrath kicked the conversion to make the score 22-7.

The Dee were reduced to fourteen when the referee ran out of patience at the number of penalties Dee were conceding. BHSFP took full advantage of the extra man and pushed the score to 29-7 with a converted try. To their credit the Dee did not let their heads drop and scored a second try after twenty-five minutes. From a penalty McGrath found touch ten metres out and from the line out the forwards set up a driving maul. As they inched their way forward Ray Dobson suddenly emerged from the pack and strolled untouched over the line. The difficult conversion fell just short to leave the score 29-12.

With ten minutes to go BHSFP scored their final try when they spun the ball along the backline and the winger went over in the corner. The Dee had all the possession in the last ten minutes and were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty try when a home forward infringed at a maul just yards from the line. The referee then blew for full time with the score 34-12 to the home team.

Not one of Dee’s better days on the road, the much improved second half effort not enough to make up for the poor performance in the first half. Next week Dee have another tough encounter when they welcome Coleraine to Donaldson Park, k.o. 2.30 pm.