The Dee travelled to Newforge on Saturday to take on the PSNI in a league encounter. Owen Roberts and Paul Johnston had joined the ever-growing injury list and coach Ray Dobson was also unavailable. This gave hooker Joebe Basuel and flanker Leo Gray an opportunity to impress whilst Robbie Ingham moved into the centre to allow Adam Russell to play on the wing.

The excellent pitch and the weather conditions were conducive for good flowing rugby. The first fifteen minutes were tightly contested with both defences being questioned but it was the home team that was first to score. The PSNI centre barged his way into the Dee 22 and the ball was quickly recycled to the fullback who ran in to touchdown. The conversion was missed to leave the score 5-0 to PSNI.

Almost immediately Dee cut the deficit when Matthew Pentland was successful with a penalty. Five minutes later the PSNI were awarded a penalty for a Dee indiscretion at a ruck and opted to have a shot at goal. The kicker pulled his kick across the front of the posts and into the arms of Matthew Stockton in his own dead ball area. Just as everyone expected him to touch down for a drop out, Stockton had other ideas and took off on a weaving run up the field. When he entered the PSNI half he offloaded to the supporting Robbie Ingham who showed the chasing policemen a clean pair of heels as he sprinted in to score in the corner. The difficult conversion was missed but Dee now had an 8-5 lead which they doggedly held on to for the rest of the half.

The home side saw most of the ball at the start of the second half and Dee’s defence was tested on several occasions. The experienced Chris Hamilton was putting on a masterclass for his younger compatriots in the Dee pack with a series of bone-crushing tackles. On the hour mark PSNI won a penalty inside the Dee 22 and this time it was converted to even the scores, 8-8.

Tensions had been building during this period and it spilled over with 15 minutes left to go when both packs got involved in a fracas. The referee had seen it all and as the evidence was clear he had no option but to show the PSNI player a red card.

Five minutes later Dee were again penalised inside their 22 and the PSNI took the lead when the kick was successful, 11-8.

As the game entered the final stages another kerfuffle resulted in a player from both teams sentenced to the sin bin. Dee were now benefitting from the extra man and mauled their way into the PSNI 22. Several drives by the forwards inched them closer to the line until Nathan Boyd managed to crash over underneath the posts for the winning score which Pentland converted with the last kick of the game.

The man of the match this week goes to the ageless Davy Skipp, who put in a tremendous 80-minute shift both in the set piece and in the loose, a great role model for the rest of his teammates.

Dee continue their league campaign next week, 18th October, when they welcome Newry to Donaldson Park, k.o. 2.30pm.