In what could be described as an “upset” – Essendon produced their best performance in a long while for their mortal arch enemy Carlton, as the Bombers destroyed the hapless Blues to run out commanding 69 point winners 21.10 (136) to 9.13 (67), in front of 83,407 fans at the MCG on Friday night to begin AFL Round 13.

After trailing by 14 points midway through the second term, the Bombers kicked 13 of the next 14 goals, and 16 of the last 18 goals in the match, to completely annihilate Carlton and stamp themselves as genuine finals prospects. The win also marked the Bombers fifth consecutive victory over the Bloos.

Bloos forward Brendan Fevola booted the first of the game three minutes into the contest. But from there the Bombers took control, dominating possession 62-31 in the opening 15 minutes with Jobe Watson picking up 11 first-quarter touches. Goals to skipper Matthew Lloyd and Hayden Skipworth – both from free kicks – gave the Bombers a one-point advantage at the quarter-time break.

After a timid opening on the scoreboard, the match heated up in the second term with both sides trading goals. When Watson hobbled from the field 10 minutes in with an ankle injury, Carlton seized its chance and booted three straight goals to surge to a 14-point lead and had the momentum surge which looked like it was going to swallow the Bombers. Goals to Lloyd, Kyle Reimers and the Alwyn Davey saw Essendon regain the lead and take a four point lead into the main break.

With both sides Top 8 places on the line, it was the Bombers that came out firing to begin the second half continuing one from where they left off late in the second quarter as they swamped the Blues with a six goal to one third team to take a stranglehold on the match.

The final term turned into a training drill for the Bombers as they produced a seven goal to one final term to blow the margin out to 69 at the final bell as Patrick Ryder goaled after the final siren. Angus Monfries who kicked five goals with five kicks, Andrew Lovett, Matthew Lloyd and Scott Lucas kicked 15 goals between them in a dominating attacking display.

Andrew Welsh in his second game back from a long injury layoff finished with 30 possessions and blanketed Carlton skipper Chris Judd, while Brent Prismall had 25 touches and Skipworth 19 possessions and two goals. Young defender Tayte Pears was also amongst the Bombers best limiting Fevola to only two goals for the night.

“I think it’s probably fair to say that was the best four-quarter effort we have put in,” Essendon coach Matthew Knights said after the match. “We have certainly at times played some good football this year, which probably lasts for 20-30 minutes. But I thought tonight over the four quarters, we were pretty strong. Even in the first quarter, we had about 80 disposals to 55. We didn’t get scoreboard pressure but there was some dominance on the game “

“What I was pleased about probably most tonight was we certainly played some up-tempo football, that was good, but at times when we needed to be patient and needed to work the ball in the middle areas, we did. It’s something we have been working on behind the scenes.”

Essendon face another Friday night MCG blockbuster next week against Collingwood in AFL Round 14 with the victor cementing a spot in the AFL Top 8.

|_\2. Injuries & Reports|
(tr1). |Injuries|Watson (ankle)|
(tr2). |Changes|Nil|
(tr1). |Reports|Nil