Donaghadee travelled to Newforge on Saturday to take on PSNI in the quarter final of the Gordon West Cup. The Dee were relatively unchanged from the previous week, the only change being Danny McBride moving back to full back to allow Harry McCracken to fill the out-half berth. PSNI kicked off on the excellent pitch in beautiful autumnal conditions and almost immediately were awarded a very kickable penalty which was pulled wide of the upright. The Dee then saw some possession and in the 11th minute Davy Kirkpatrick finished off a fine passage of play to score the game’s first try. Matthew Pentland was successful with the conversion to give the Dee a 7-0 lead. Five minutes later PSNI were awarded another penalty in almost the same position as the first when the Dee were caught offside. This time the kicker made no mistake to reduce the deficit to four points. The next 15 minutes were played mainly in the middle of the park with neither team dominating, although the Dee were guilty of a few handling errors that put them under unwanted pressure. On the half hour mark the PSNI fullback put a kick deep into the Dee’s 22 and the Dee winger was fooled by the bouncing ball which allowed the PSNI winger to touch down for an unconverted try. This gave the PSNI a 1 point lead at half time. The lead was extended after only a couple of minutes of the second half when the Dee were penalised for an infringement at a ruck. The kick was converted to make the score 11-7. PSNI had the momentum at this stage and this was compounded when a Dee forward was harshly sent to the sin bin for a high tackle. For the next ten minutes PSNI were camped on the Dee’s line and it was sheer determination and disciplined defence that kept them from scoring what would surely have been a winning try. In the last five minutes of the half the Dee came back into the game and had several chances to score, one effort being held up over the line. As the game entered stoppage time the Dee had one last chance and after several drives by the forwards the ball was flung out wide and centre Robbie Ingham managed to dive into the corner to score and snatch a victory for the Dee. So Dee progress to a semifinal in January but know that they will have to put in a much better performance if they are to have a chance to progress to the Kingspan. A couple of weeks rest now until they welcome Inishowen to Donaldson Park for a league game on December 7th, k.o. 2.30 pm.