Essendon and skipper Matthew Lloyd produced one of their better performances in recent years with a thrilling 4 point victory over Carlton at the MCG on Saturday night. In front of 70,411 fans, the underdog Bombers overcame a slow start to register their second win of the season and move into the AFL Top 8.

After a goalless start to the season, Lloyd burst back into form with a BOG five goal game and was assisted by midfielder Brent Stanton (26 possessions and 2 goals), Andrew Lovett and Courtenay Dempsey (21 touches each) while Jobe Watson, Angus Monfries and Patrick Ryder were also prominent contributors.

The Blues dominated the opening term and the 20 margin was ‘flattering’ to the Bombers with Carlton spearhead Brendan Fevola spraying numerous chances with five shots at goal with only a return of one major. Fevola stretched the Blues lead to 27 with the opening goal of the second quarter before the Bombers finally kicked into gear.

Alwyn Davey sparked the Bombers comeback before Dempsey chipped in with two in a row before the Blues hit back with a goal to Ryan Houlihan. Under pressure forwards Scott Lucas and Lloyd closed the second term for the Bombers with two goals that saw the Bombers take the lead for the first time in the match and take a two point lead into the half time break.

The Bombers lead lasted all of 20 seconds into the second half before Simon Wiggins gave the Blues back the lead. Lloyd and Lucas chipped in with a brace of goals before Lucas HANDBALLED to Hayden Skipworth to extend the Bombers lead to 13 points.

The match turn once again as the Blues gained the ascendancy with a four goal run before the game swung in ‘strange’ circumstances. Lloyd was gifted a goal after front-on contact by Blue defender Brett Thornton, and then Thornton pushed Davey to the ground and Davey goaled without the ball being bounced. Ryder then added another Bombers goal before Wiggins with two seconds remaining goaled to cut the Bombers lead to six points with one quarter to play.

The final term saw both sides swap goals, with the Bombers keeping their nose in front. Fevola’s fourth goal put the Blues within a point midway through the quarter but a clutch goal to Stanton gave the Bombers some breathing space as they held on for an important victory.

“I think Matthew Lloyd summed it up best after the game when he said it was one of the more prouder wins he’s been involved in,” Essendon coach Matthew Knights said after the game. “The plan before the game was for Lloyd and Lucas to rotate and to spend time deep forward and up the ground as a high forward, so I left that to them to run the show out on the ground.

“And then Patrick Ryder and David Hille also spent time forward, so at times we felt we were a bit big upfront, but it was probably one area of the game that we did think they were a little bit vulnerable, which was on the hotspot area, and we did have the big targets to go at.

“So we had to use that as a strength against probably their rebound, which they’re very good at.”

The Bombers next face North Melbourne at Jihad Stadium in AFL Round 4 and a chance to move higher up the AFL ladder.