Dyce started slowly and had to rely on some strong defensive play scrambling to defend against the battery of Peterhead’s forwards. Dyce held Peterhead off for the first ten minutes but Peterhead managed to get on the score board first with a quick tap penalty that caught Dyce napping and disorganised. Peterhead prop Freddie Thacker scored right under the posts whilst Daniel Smith took an easy drop kick conversion.

Dyce continued to play on the back foot but with a strong defensive game for much of the first half. They fell first to a trailblazing individual run from Peterhead #10 and then again to poor organisation on a quick tap penalty.

Despite dominating at the lineout and causing Peterhead some problems at the scrum the first half ended 0-19 to Peterhead.

HT: Dyce RFC 0 - 19 Peterhead RFC

The second half got under way and Peterhead carried their momentum over though their lack of numbers looked to be starting to tell.

As the Peterhead team started to tire Daniel Macgregor made easy work of the Peterhead defence with an outside break and dancing feet to get Dyce on the score board and give the team a much needed boost following the first half.

Peterhead came back almost immediately and made there way back up the park with some heavy runners and worked their way towards the top corner of the pitch despite the Dyce defence being on good form. With the visitors looking dangerous 5m out Jack Cooper was penalised by referee Jamieson Shearer who duly brandished the yellow card for killing the ball in the red zone. Peterhead took immediate advantage of their extra man and quickly scored directly from the penalty with Thacker burrowing under the Dyce defence from short range to score his second try of the match.

The reduction in numbers caused a 14 man Dyce to reassess and reorganise. Gaining some much needed composure the home team started to look more dangerous.

Dyce stormed straight back down the park and some fantastic lines from man of the match Duncan Scott led to Dyce's second score of the match. Scott, playing in the centres was able to exploit space in the wider channels following the tight up front barrage tying in defenders. Captain David Hay duly concerted.

Dyce found themselves back in the game with a newfound hunger. Craig Philip crossed the line twice but was judged to have been held up and Adam Watt was agonisingly close to scoring in the corner but was foiled by some ditch Peterhead defending.

The confidence found by the two tries when down to 14 men continued following Cooper's reintroduction and with Angus Stanners and David Hay dictating the play and marshaling the attack plays, Dyce exerted stiff pressure on the black and reds playing downhill. Despite the strong rally, errors at critical times delayed the inevitable scores with the visitors camped on their own try line for the best part of 10 minutes.

Dyce's losing bonus point try came right at the death from super sub Damian Macgregor with Dyce showing great composure to work the ball out wide, exploiting the gaps in a tired Peterhead defence. Dyce would have fancied their chances if there had only been another five or ten minutes on the clock. Sadly the ref called time on the match of two halves as captain David Hay missed the final kick of the game from the tee wide out on the left.

FT: Dyce RFC 19 - 26 Peterhead RFC

Though a loss, Dyce can see the transformation in the team since last season and undoubtedly other teams in the league will have cause to be worried when facing them later in the season.

Inverness Craig Dunain on the road is the fisture for the Dyce team; a stern test at a team who are likely to be challenging for the 4 North league title come the end of the season.

A bus will be put on by the club- supporters are welcome to join for the bargain fee of £5. Please message the club to reserve your seat!

Mon the Dyce!