The Bendigo Bombers are still searching for their first win of season 2009 after falling 13-points short of Port Melbourne in a thrilling encounter at TEAC Oval.

 

Port Melbourne, sitting third on the ladder, came into the clash as hot favourites and secured the expected win; however, the Bombers did launch a serious challenge and showed that it can’t be long before they notch up their first victory in 2009.

 

Twelve Essendon listed players lined up for Bendigo, including big names like Hayden Skipworth, Nathan Lovett-Murray and Bachar Houli.

 

Tom Bellchambers played his best game since returning from a knee injury and Leroy Jetta made an improvement on his last couple of performances.

 

Port Melbourne raced out of the blocks early in the game, kicking five goals and only one behind for the first quarter, while up the other end of the ground Bendigo did not reward themselves in front of goal.

 

The Bombers registered six behinds and no majors despite having more scoring attempts.

 

Jay Neagle, John Williams and Darcy Daniher all missed kickable goals which saw Bendigo trailing by 25-points at the first break.

 

The Bombers second quarter was much better, Lovett-Murray, Houli and Daniher all scoring goals to help pull Bendigo back into the contest.

 

Skipworth was a standout in the first half, racking up 24 disposals with the majority of them being effective, while Lovett-Murray and David Zaharakis nabbed 13 and 15 possessions respectively.

 

The Bombers trailed by 17-points as the siren sounded at half-time but looked like they were going to put up a fight in the second half of the match.

 

Bendigo had a dream start to the third term with Lachlan Delahunty and Lovett-Murray scoring majors early to keep the Bombers in the hunt.

 

Houli and Lovett-Murray were among Bendigo’s best of the quarter with 10 possessions each as Port Melbourne’s lead was shaved down to just six points.

 

The Bombers came out firing at the start of the final term with Neagle scoring his first goal of the quarter, marking then playing on and running into the goal square.

 

Daniher delivered another much needed goal for his side, which took Bendigo so close to securing a victory.

 

The Bombers desperately launched attack after attack in the closing stages but couldn’t find anymore goals as the pressure mounted, whilst Port Melbourne were able to add two more to the scoreboard.

 

Port Melbourne proved to be to strong for the winless Bombers in the end, walking away as 13-point victors in a well fought out match.

 

Neagle finished with two goals to his name, whilst Lovett-Murray top scored with three. Captain, James Flaherty had a great final quarter; however his efforts weren’t enough to overturn the result.

 

Skipworth was argueably Bendigo’s best, finishing the game with 38 possessions, while other leading players were Zaharakis (34 disposals), Lovett-Murray (24 possessions, three goals), Houli (26 possessions) and James Flaherty, who was rock solid in defence, as always.

 

David Myers had a solid game despite appearing to have a niggling injury and Tom Bellchambers showed that he could be the solution to Essendon’s ruck problems after putting in an impressive performance.

 

Williams suffered a possible season ending injury, dislocating his shoulder in a marking contest, which was disappointing as he had showed much promise in the first quarter of the game.

 

In the reserves, Michael Quinn put in an exceptional performance to be best on ground during the Bombers 82-point loss. Kade Klemke also had a decent game registering four goals, while developing ruckman Christian Bock had a solid hit out up against Dylan McLaren.