Match Report by Geoff Ingham

Dee welcomed Newry to Donaldson Park on Saturday for a Championship 3 league
game, hoping to bounce back from a disappointing loss last week.

Due to a couple of injuries and unavailability there were several changes to the Dee’s line up. Veteran Davy Skipp started in the front row, alongside player coach Ray Dobson who was making his 100 th appearance for the 1 st XV. In contrast, young John Cousins was
making his 1 st XV debut in the second row. Jody Newell made a welcome return with
the oval ball in the outhalf position and Matthew Mingout moved into the centre,
replacing the injured Matthew Stockton.

Storm Boelo had arrived earlier in the day, putting the match in doubt, but thankfully the rain stayed away for most of the game, allowing both sides to run the ball, despite the moist conditions. The Dee started the stronger and soon found themselves deep inside the visitor’s 22. After several drives by the forwards it was Alfie Thomas who crashed over to score his first try for the Dee. Ten minutes later Aaron McKee, on his fiftieth appearance for the Dee, found a gap in Newry’s defence and ran in to touch down under the posts. Jody Newell made no mistake with the conversion to push the score to 12-0 to the Dee.

Only four minutes later it was Robbie Ingham who slid in to score after good work by the
forwards. Newell was successful with the conversion to stretch the score to 19-0.

It was then Newry’s turn to enjoy some possession and territory and after several
phases of play their forwards managed to score a converted score.

With five minutes of the half to go Dee got their bonus point try when Connor Moore finished off a fine move to score his third try of the season. Dee continued to apply lots of pressure on Newry’s defence and on the stroke of half time Ingham scored his second of the day, diving over beside the posts. Newell slotted the conversion to leave the half-time
score 31-7 to the Dee.

With the wind at their backs in the second half the Dee supporters were hoping for a
plethora of tries. However, during the third quarter the Dee struggled to assert
themselves on the game, a combination of some handling errors and white line fever
stopped them building on their lead. As the game entered the final quarter the Dee
won a scrum against the head and the ball was spun out to the left wing and Adam
Russell gathered well and touched down in the corner.

Five minutes later the Dee scored their final try when, after several phases and impressive offloading, the evergreen Phil Eadie crashed over under the posts. Newell converted to push the score to 43-7.

The last few minutes were played out in the middle of the park as the heavy rain returned and the referee blew for full time. A better performance from the Dee this week but still plenty to work on in training. An impressive debut from John Cousins but the Copeland Distillery Man of the Match goes to Alfie Thomas who topped his all-round efforts with a try.

A week’s rest for the Dee before a Gordon West quarter final away to Ophir on the 7th November, 2.30 k.o.