ESSENDON:

WESTERN BULLDOGS:

The most claustrophobic of forward 50s kept the Dons to their lowest score of the season, while at the other end sheer inspiration got the Bulldogs home.

The winning goal was illustrative of the way the night panned out. Dustin Fletcher had been among the best Dons on the park - cool, collected and brilliant for the first three quarters. Recalled from his goalkicking exploits by Kevin Sheedy to repel the desperate last-ditch Dogs, Fletcher kicked out of bounds with 90 seconds left when only a metre from the line. Chris Grant, to a reverberating roar under the Docklands roof, ran around and kicked a goal.

Rohan Smith kicked a goal after the siren to make the margin 11 points, but no one noticed, and no one cared.

The Dogs’ double – ending the extraordinary runs of both Carlton and the Bombers - has done more than restore an unlikely pride to the West. It has split open a 2000 football season that at 9.30 tonight looked signed, sealed and delivered, with a Windy Hill address.

All this looked unlikely for three-and-a-half quarters in front of the 45,725 punters who had sold out Colonial Stadium in the hope of watching the Bombers edge closer to immortality.

Bomber fans have become used to watching sides come out pumped-up to knock the Dons off their pedestal. A physical first half was only as expected, but the Bulldogs take physicality to different levels.

Even so, the Dons looked to have the answers when a decent Bulldog start was reeled in. The forward mobility of Lloyd and particularly Fletcher was creating enough chances, while Long was regularly parting a red, white and blue sea to find the strong-marking Blumfield and Mercuri.

Jason Johnson played brilliantly on the wing. Even in the last quarter when the heat was beyond extreme, the speedy wingman ran like his age and controlled the ball like a veteran.

Scott Lucas was first to show that something was wrong. Possibly playing with the complacency borne by his side’s previously-perfect year, Lucas took on a Bulldog (and the worst to antagonise, Tony Liberatore) once too often in the second term, and was caught in the centre. The resulting goal to Brad Johnson helped the Dogs draw level by half-time. It was not the only time Scotty was caught out during the night as he sought to find ways around - and through - the Bulldog flooding.

The events leading into the break will be heavily analysed in the next few days, particularly in view of the night’s finish. John Barnes decked Brad Johnson off the ball as the siren sounded, and a two-part melee ensued that left angry players on both sides, livid fans, and Libba, at least, bleeding from the head.

Endless waves of Dog defenders cramped the Dons into low-percentage shots from 50 or outside after the break. As Terry Wallace’s less-than-cunning plan took shape, the Bulldogs stifled forays by Long, Misiti and Barnes, and then capitalised at the other end with two quick goals.

Essendon was not rattled into the fumbles the Dogs needed, however. Mark Johnson, Ramanauskas and Long kept things slick in the centre, and inevitably, the aerial class in attack shone through. Fletcher’s gangly reach commanded the attention of at least two blue shirts every time the leather came near, but he, Blumfield and Johnson clawed the Bombers back in front, and to what should have been a winning lead.

Twenty two points down after the Bombers kicked the first goal of the last term, however, and the Dogs drew on the fire provided by Johnson and Romero and their nothing-to-lose status. For the first time all year, in the final ten minutes, Essendon looked genuinely rattled. They also looked tired, maybe the after-effects of last week starting to tell.

Brad Johnson, the Bulldogs’ leader before half-time and its inspiration after, hit the post four minutes from time with the Dogs four points down. Paul Hudson had the ball a minute later, but he snapped wide from 35 metres with all the time in the world. Another Hudson point from a set shot within seconds made it look all for the world as though the Dons would hang on, but the Bulldogs had other ideas.

The win puts the Bulldogs deservedly into the finals for good, but Essendon will be grateful it has a relatively straightforward task against Collingwood next week to get back on song for the month that counts. Even so, with the injury toll mounting, every contest looks a formidable one at the moment.

And it may yet be that injuries, that have been largely kind to us this year, will have the biggest long-term impact out of this match. Dean Rioli’s season appears to be over after what looks like a recurrence of his collarbone injury – possibly a break. Damien Hardwick went off early with a shin injury that may well keep him out next week, if not longer, while Jason Johnson apparently has a corked thigh that puts him in doubt for next week.

Matthew Lloyd suffered what was described as damage to the ligaments in his thumb and will be monitored, while Mark Mercuri suffered some problems with his calf. Sean Wellman also dislocated a finger.

» Return to 2000 season fixture