Mills to the fore as Dees fell Forest

With the game underway, it wasn’t long before the first scrum of the day was set, with the youthful Dees front row of Stuart Calder, Reece Bowles and Shaun Mangan facing off against a mixture of youth and experience in the Leicester front row.

The game progressed with the Dees pack driving forwards from the edges of rucks and the backs cutting through the defence in front of them.

It was a great team effort which finally saw Bowles take an inside pass, after some fancy footwork from wing Danny Mills, to drive over the line for the first score.

Danny Mills added the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

From there on, the first half was simply a game of missed opportunities, with Dees blowing chances that would have been taken with ease on another day.

A fine series of fast flowing play involving both forwards and backs, ending with a pass being dropped on the wing leaving a clear 10m run into the line.

More dropped passes and dubious forward passes led to scrums and turnovers galore, with the rampaging Dees pack controlling the tight play.

With only a few minutes to half time, Dees suffered an unfortunate blow, losing Bowles to a bicep injury, a type he has suffered from before in past seasons. However, with the back up of the powerful Aaron White, playing at flanker, coming into the front row, Dees brought on their defensive flanker, Ashley Jenkinson, to add his superb tackling and turnover skills.

After the break, the dominating Dees pack were soon back on top of their beleaguered opponents.

A series of drives up the park, applied far too much pressure for the Leicester defence and the silky skills of Sam Coogan, allowed him to stroll over the line.

Again, the precise boot of Mills was on target and Dees were leading 14-0.

Soon after, the Dees pack were put in prime position by the kicking of fly-half Peter Thompson.

A superb catch and drive lineout saw Dees rumble a full 25 metres to the line for a great joint effort, touched down, in the end, by Shaun Mangan.

The metronomic boot of Mills added the conversion for a 21-0 lead.

As often happens, straight after scoring, lapsed concentration saw Dees run ragged for a short while.

The end result of which, was Dees standing under their posts having conceding a well worked try, but the conversion was wayward.

Mangan suffered an injury in the build up and once again, Dees brought on the highly experienced veteran forward James Noel.

Dees were then pushing for the bonus point win, which eluded them last week, and taking full control, they were soon making inroads into the opposition half.

Another great kick from Peter Thompson resulted in the Dees pack calling the shots from the lineout.

Main jumpers, Tom Evans and Sam Coogan, were brilliant all day, allowing Dees to set a great base to play from, not to mention the accurate throwing of Aaron White.

It was from that lineout, the Dees pack drove their opposition numbers back a full 20 metres again and this time, second row Scott Oliver touched down, with Mills making it 28-5.

The next 10 minutes was a total onslaught of hard running and slick passing from Dunstablians.

Having enjoyed a fine match, Sam Coogan together with veteran James Noel, cleverly recycled the ball, the backs were then released and it was the man of the moment with the boot, Mills, who showed everyone he could finish them off himself, with a fine diving effort into the corner.

Unfortunately, it had to be his own try that he could not convert, falling inches short of a 100 per cent record.

Head coach Dave Marshall said: “It was another good day at the office but this squad has so much potential that we should have put 50 points on that scoreline”.

Dees head to Banbury in the first round of the Midlands Intermediate Cup on Saturday.

Dees: Stuart Calder, Reece Bowles, Shaun Mangan, Scott Oliver, Matthew Knight, Aaron White, Sam Coogan, Tom Evans, Stuart Hall, Peter Thompson, Danny Mills, Campbell Haig, Scott Warren, Gavin Denning, Kevin Boland Replacements: James Noel, Ashley Warren, Joe Murphy.

T: Mangan, Bowles, Oliver, Coogan, Mills. C: Mills 4.