Bombers Bounce Back Against Blues

Essendon bounced back from last weeks humiliating 99 point loss to reigning AFL Premier Geelong with a tough 16 point victory over arch-rival Carlton in AFL Round 3 at the MCG on Saturday night.

The crowd of over 64,000 was dealt a high-scoring affair with a 44 goal contest with the Bombers having 14 individual goal scorers while bad boy Blues forward Brendan Fevola finished with 8 goals for the losers.

After trailing by 16 points at half-time, the Blues led by a five goal third term by Fevola had turned that deficit into a 13 lead deep into time on before the Bombers managed to hit back to gain the momentum going into the final term with goals to skipper Matthew Lloyd and then Adam McPhee after the three-quarter time siren to send the Dons down by a point heading into the final change.

The Bombers continued on in the final quarter where they finished off in the third by kicking the opening five goals of the final term to seal their second victory for the season and move back into the AFL Top 8.

Mark McVeigh was best-on-ground with 26 possessions and four goals, while Lloyd added 4 goals of his own after being held goalless last week against the Cats. Andrew Lovett in his 2008 senior debut and veteran defender Dustin Fletcher both finished with 21 touches while Jay Nash, Jason Winderlich and Brent Stanton were also prominent ball winners on the night.

The lead changed five times in a tight first quarter but it was the Bombers that held an eight-point advantage at quarter-time with Angus Monfries providing the early spark. They then held a slender lead for much of the second quarter but it took until after the half-time siren that saw Mark McVeigh goal and give the Bombers the biggest lead of the game so far with a 16 point margin.

The Bombers face another tough test next Friday night as they open AFL Round 4 with a Phone Dome clash with the undefeated Western Bulldogs.

Posted 5 April 08 in News Match Review