The game kicked-off on a bright & warm Autumn afternoon at Donaldson Park with the Dee infringing at the breakdown and Academy took the lead after two minutes after kicking the ensuing penalty goal. This stung the home side into action but, after a succession of attacks a loose pass in midfield was intercepted by the Academy centre who ran forty metres to touch down under the posts – the conversion giving the visitors a 10-0 lead with as many minutes played. At this point play swung back and forth between the two sides until the Dee were awarded a penalty on 24 minutes which Nigel Barker duly converted. The Dee support were now expecting the Donaldson Park men to at least tie things up prior to half time but – they were to be disappointed! Two minutes later inexplicable laxity in defence from an Academy scrum on the 22 metre line allowed their No. 8 to pick up and feed his support to score their second try in the corner which remained unconverted. With five minutes of the half left the Dee naively dived on the ball in a rick on their own ten metre line and Academy extended their lead to 18-3 with an excellent penalty kick which bisected the posts with ease. Once again stung back into the fray the Dee broke blind and fed Andy McGrugan who chipped ahead barely ten metres out only to be late tackled by an Academy defender who was yellow carded by referee Jonny Peak for his trouble. The Dee won the subsequent lineout from the penalty and drove towards the visitor’s line but the Academy defence remained firm and they cleared their lines. On the stroke of half-time the Dee defence was drawn – naively it has to be said - across the pitch and Academy immediately switched play left to allow them to cross the home line once again virtually unopposed. Again the score was unconverted and the referee then brought the half to a close with the visitors leading by a margin of 23-3.

With Academy visibly tiring in the second half the Dee had most of the play but little of it in the “red zone”. What few opportunities that arose were either spurned or dealt with relatively comfortably by Academy who themselves enjoyed a dominant ten minute period in which the Dee defence rallied itself to overcome any potential scoring. The stagnation of the second period was broken with fifteen minutes to go when Bill Allen came off the bench for his first appearance of the season. Within minutes Allen’s direct style of play from full-back had Academy in trouble and two forays along the touchline lifted the home crowd and were unfortunate in that they did not bring any change to the scoreboard. Having resisted the Dee’s best efforts Academy attacked for the first time in the second half and only Allen’s trademark last ditch tackle prevented them from extending their lead. With the referee about to call time the Dee launched a final attack which ended twenty metres out with Academy turning over ball. Dee No. 8 Chris Hamilton was not to be denied however and re-won the ball after some outstanding work on the floor before the ball was spun left along the backs to allow flying wing Johnny Quigg to score a consolation try in the corner. Barker kicked the touchline conversion to bring matters to a close with Dee on the end of a 23-10 defeat.

The Dee then won the second half 7-0 but unfortunately one half does not win a game and the home side will deeply regret what was quite simply an abject performance in the first half – especially in terms of defence. Too many players did not play consistently to their abilities with the very notable exception of Hamilton who, once again, stood head & shoulders above his peers. To be fair he was supported sporadically by the ever improving Matthew Johnston & Chade Gelderman, the returning Richard Martindale & Matthew Kennedy, Dicky Bailey featuring on the wing for the first time and typically dogged performances from Gareth Gordon & skipper Barker & finally, of course, the mercurial Allen but, as a whole, the side failed to deliver. Even with a clutch of first-pick players missing the Dee will look upon this result with a great deal of regret and the Coaching Team will demand a full turnout on the training pitch from the 1st & 2nd XVs this incoming week in order to set matters right before the first league game of the season next Saturday when Grosvenor will be welcomed to Donaldson Park.