Round 10 - Sydney Match Review

Essendon moved back into the AFL Top 8 following a controversial one point victory over Sydney at the SCG in AFL Round 10.

A fourth-quarter goal to Mark McVeigh which came via an Adam McPhee kick that was clearly out of bounds, looked to have sealed the game for the Bombers before two late Swans goals in time-on brought them back within 2 points with a minute left on the clock.

Swan Amon Buchanan had the chance to snatch the match for the home side, but the ‘fat’ goal post denied the Swans an undeserved victory, in a match where the Bombers had been the better side for much of the night.

The Bombers started the match off with a bang, kicking the four opening goals of the game in the first eight minutes.

Choking (or even flooding) the Swans forward line, with Mal Michael subduing Swan forward Barry Hall along with Dustin Fletcher and Patrick Ryder, the Bombers were able to take the Swans run out of the match.

Hall in particular who has been Essendon’s nemesis in matches between the two sides having previously kicked 42 goals in the past 8 matches was held goalless by Michael up until the 26 minute mark of the last quarter.

A three goal Swans surge in the first term cut the Bombers lead to 11 going into the first change.

The Bombers again started the better side in the second quarter kicking the two opening goals of the term stretching the margin back out to 22. Before the Swans again had a late surge kicking four straight goals to take the lead for the first time in the match to have a two point lead at the main break.

In a tight third term, the Bombers dominated the contest but wasted several opportunities to finish the term with an unproductive 0.5 return while the Swans could only manage a single goal for the term meaning they stretched their half time break by one to lead by three points going into the final stanza.

With both sides looking like they were ‘out on their feet’, the Bombers finally took their opportunities to start the final quarter as skipper Matthew Lloyd kicked a goal, then Brent Stanton bombed a long one and Mark Bolton picked up his second for the game to give the Bombers a 16 point lead.

Sydney kept in touch via a Nick Davis goal before McVeigh’s controversial goal looked to have sealed the contest with a 14 point lead at the 23 minute mark of the final term.

But as they had done earlier in the game, the Swans rallied with Hall getting his first, quickly followed up by Craig Bolton booting a long goal from a set shot at the 28 minute mark to make the margin 2 points with less than a minute left on the clock.

Buchanan’s snap that hit the post at the 29 minute mark would have given the four points to Sydney, but the padding saved the Bombers from an undeserved loss.

Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy said after the match he was a ‘proud man’.

“We’ve got a team that’s sort of blending together gradually,” said Sheedy. “It was a terrific effort to come up and win. We let ourselves down a little bit early with some missed goals. I think the third quarter was five points to one goals. It was a tight, tense game. No one expected us to win.”

The Bombers return home to Melbourne with a date with 2006 AFL Premiers West Coast at the Phone Dome next week in AFL Round 11.

Game Details
Ground	SCG
Home / Away	Away
Attendance	26,647
Umpires	Donlon, McLaren, Chamberlain

Scores
	1 / 4	2 / 4	3 / 4	Full Time
Essendon	5.1	7.2	7.7	11.8.74
Sydney	3.2	7.4	8.4	11.7.73

Best Players
Essendon	Fletcher, Winderlich, McVeigh, Lloyd, Hird, Michael
Sydney	Kirk, Schneider, Richards, Buchanan, Everitt

Goals
Essendon	Lloyd 3, Bolton, McVeigh 2, Welsh, M. Johnson, Watson, Stanton
Sydney	Davis 3, C. Bolton, Hall, Goodes, O’Loughlin, Fosdike, Dempster, Schneider, Bevan

Injuries and Reports
Injuries	Peverill replaced in selected side by Nash
Reports	Nil

The Team
B:	Fletcher	Ryder	Michael
HB:	McVeigh	Bolton	Stanton
C:	J. Johnson	Watson	Slattery
HF:	Welsh	Lucas	Davey
F:	M. Johnson	Lloyd	Hird
R:	Hille	McPhee	Winderlich
INT:	Houli	Laycock	Monfries
	Nash
EMG:	Camporeale	Johns

Posted 2 June 07 in Match Review News