Match report by Geoff Ingham

Donaghadee welcomed Academy to Donaldson Park on Saturday for their first league match of the season. Even with a number of notable absentees the Dee were still able to field a strong looking team. Unfortunately, Robbie Ingham failed a late fitness test which meant his impressive run of 46 consecutive games for the First XV came to an end. In contrast to last week, when the spectators had waterproofs and umbrellas in the moist conditions, this week they were applying suncream as the sun shone brightly throughout the afternoon. Academy started well and after only 2 minutes gone on the scoreboard they kicked a penalty after the Dee were penalised at the breakdown. Dee had the next scoring opportunity when a well worked maul took them close to the line but were then penalised for being off their feet at the next ruck. Another flurry of penalties followed and after 15 minutes the Academy kicker just failed to double the lead as the kick flew wide of the upright. The Dee saw most of the ball in the next 10 minutes but were frustrated by both the Academy defence and the inability to finish off good opportunities. During this spell Dee opted to kick 2 penalties but both attempts were unsuccessful. Play then fluctuated back and forth for the next period with the Dee’s defence denying Academy any success on a number of occasions and their attack looking threatening when they had the ball. On the stroke of half time the Dee’s pressure eventually paid off when after a couple of forward drives Sam Ingham crashed over to score and put the Dee into a 5-3 lead at half- time. The visitors were reduced to 14 men for the first 10 minutes of the second half and the Dee took full advantage. After only 2 minutes Mark Cooper switched the direction of play and centre Will Richards broke through the defence before passing to captain Matthew Stockton who drew the opposing winger and off-loaded to Sam Ingham who managed to cross the line despite the efforts of a couple of Academy defenders. Almost immediately the Dee scored again, when after a strong run by Ray Dobson and another break by Richards, winger Chis McGivern skipped past two defenders to touch down in the corner. Cooper then kicked the difficult conversion to put the Dee into a 17-3 lead. Academy then came back into the game and scored a try of their own when the forwards drove over after a series of rucks and mauls. The Dee bounced back soon after when Ingham fielded an Academy clearance and passed to Dobson who set off on one of his thunderous charges upfield. When he was eventually stopped Stockton picked up and shot though the gap untouched to score under the posts for a bonus point try. Cooper again converted to make the score 24-8 in the Dee’s favour. If the Dee support thought that the result of the game was decided at this stage they were mistaken as a combination of Academy’s reluctance to give in and Dee’s inability to close out the game made for a nerve wrecking last quarter. From a line out in the Dee’s 22 the Academy No. 8 crashed over and the conversion was successful to bring the scores to 24-15. Shortly after this score, two consecutive penalties saw two Dee backs being sent to the bin and the Academy team could sense the chance of pulling off a win. However, for the next ten minutes, every one of the remaining Dee men rose to the challenge and defended as if their lives depended on it. Even though Academy were camped in the Dee 22 they were not able to break down the Dee defence, epitomised by a thunderous tackle by Alastair Lockhart on the Academy winger to prevent a certain score. The Dee were back up to full strength for the last couple of minutes and managed to see out the remainder of the game in the opposition half. Man of the match this week could have gone to several players such as Stockton, Lockhart and Richards who all had excellent games but for his brace of tries and his work rate throughout, this week’s award goes to Sam Ingham. A good start for the Dee but still plenty to work on in training before next week’s local derby at home to Ards, kick off 2.30pm.