Winter arrived with a vengeance to Donaldson Park on Saturday with the game in some doubt due to the wet weather over the past few weeks. As it turned out though the pitch was in perfect condition by game time but the weathergear worn by the large Ballymoney and Dee support was testament to the cold. Once again the Dee made enforced changes to their line-up – with Jack Cooke still on the injury list & Sam Ingham unavailable the pack were further hamstrung by the loss of Richard Martindale to a broken finger sustained some weeks ago but only diagnosed after last week’s game against Carrick. On the positive side both Andy Todd & Chade Gelderman returned from injury and another member of Regent House’s successful Schools Cup side from last year, Conn Crawford, made his debut in the back row.

The game took an attritional aspect from kick-off with both sides struggling to put together meaningful attacks and packs dominating play. The Dee threatened on a number of occasions but the Toon defence held firm before positions were reversed and the home side defended their line against the much larger & more experienced pack for whom their Head Coach James Carson was having an influential game in the front row. Donaghadee, however, stuck to their task well with Chris Good, skipper Gareth Gordon, Chris Hamilton and Matthew Johnston all to the fore. Young Crawford was having a significant influence on the game from No. 6 ably supported by Gareth Deering and youngsters Chris Scott & Tommy Scullion. No 10 Paul Blewitt (pictured) regularly brought Todd into the game on the crash ball but the Toon defence held firm despite the best efforts of the supporting Mark Cooper and John Quigg in the threequarters. On the 24 minute mark the Dee’s first opportunity to score came when they were awarded a penalty just over the Ballymoney ten metre line and Andy McGrugan stepped up to confidently stroke the ball between the uprights. Just over ten minutes later McGrugan repeated the dose with a much simpler kick to take the Dee into a 6-0 lead. Ballymoney now returned to offence and pressed the Dee line and, as is often the case on these occasions, the Dee were penalised on a couple of occasions before Crawford was yellow carded for killing the ball. Fortunately for the home side Ballymoney missed the ensuing kick as half-time was reached with no change to the scoreboard.

The second half began in much the same fashion as the first but with Ballymoney making strong efforts to get themselves on the scoreboard and this immediately paid dividends when, on 43 minutes they converted a penalty to reduce the gap to three points after the Dee were penalised for coming in at the side. Donaghadee had earlier brought Matt Brown into the front row to stiffen up their scrummaging and now Paul Hamilton made a welcome return to the 1st XV off the bench and into the back row where his uncompromising style of play brought renewed steel to the efforts of the Dee eight. Crawford had now returned to the field however the Dee men remained under significant pressure but held on admirably with Chris Hamilton and Bill Allen to the fore – the former ruling ball on the floor and the latter pulling off a couple of his trademark bone-crunching tackles on unsuspecting opposition forwards. Gelderman had left proceedings by this stage and Scott took over at scrum-half and began to have an impact on the game keeping the opposition back row honest and encouraging Crawford, Good & Deering to carry well into Toon territory. Johnston and Scullion were also in the thick of the action – both showing that they are fast becoming key members of this young Dee 1st XV. The Dee threatened on a couple of occasions but unfortunately scoring opportunities were spurned and the Dee faithful on the side feared that another Ballymoney onslaught would prove the undoing of the spirited home side. The onslaught did come but magnificent defence from the Dee in which both Hamiltons and Crawford were always to the fore and some excellent game management from Blewitt & defence from Todd & Allen reduced the Toon’s scoring opportunities to a very kickable penalty which rebounded off the post. With four minutes of injury time played the referee blew for no side and the Dee had taken four very valuable and hard-won league points.

On a week to week basis it would exceptionally easy to award the Man of the Match to Chris Hamilton, to the exclusion of others who have substantial impact on the game, due to his consistently excellent performances. Although Blewitt, Todd, Allen, Good, Crawford & Gordon would be in the frame for this week’s award it has to go to Hamilton whose power, skill and control both in open play and in the forward exchanges was the dominating factor in the game. A word too for Conn Crawford playing his first game at this level since leaving school and who had an exceptionally encouraging performance both with ball in hand and defensively. The side take a break next week before welcoming Lisburn to Donaldson Park on Saturday 5th December when the opposition will offer no less of a challenge in this most competitive of leagues.