Essendon have escaped by the barest of margins in opposition to the bottom-placed West Coast Eagles on Saturday afternoon.
The Bombers entered the competition at Marvel Stadium because the pink sizzling favourites as they regarded to maintain their finals aspirations alive.
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The Bombers took management of the competition with a six-goal second quarter, however the Eagles got here flying residence and regarded to have pulled off the upset of the season.
But it was a large reprieve for Bombers followers when Kyle Langford slotted the match-winning purpose with lower than 90 seconds to play as Essendon secured the ten.13 (73) to 11.6 (72) win.
The Eagles took management of the competition from midway via the third quarter as they kicked seven out of eight objectives with Ryan Maric placing his workforce in entrance with a tick below two minutes on the clock.
Fans in attendance and watching on merely couldn’t consider what they have been seeing unfold, however the Bombers responded immediately and retook the lead earlier than holding on till the ultimate siren in one of many extra unconvincing wins of the season.
Fans far and extensive savaged the ugly show put forth by the Bombers in a sport many need scrubbed from their reminiscence.
ESPN’s Steve Smith wrote: “This is beyond embarrassing. Laughing-stock.”
The Advocate Tasmania’s Alex Fair wrote: “Let’s just forget that game ever happened. Not one to celebrate at all.”
ESPN’s Matt Walsh wrote: “Four points, burn the tapes kinda win that one.”
Based on their lacklustre efficiency in opposition to a workforce which has been travelling worse than the notorious 1996 Fitzroy workforce for a lot of the season, Essendon shall be nothing greater than September cannon fodder in the event that they in some way handle to complete within the prime eight.
Outside of a dominant six-goal second quarter, the Bombers have been troubled severely by the Eagles for a lot of the competition.
The end result squared the Bombers’ win-loss ledger at 10-10, and so they may end the spherical two factors exterior the highest eight if outcomes go their approach this weekend. But they give the impression of being something however a finals-calibre aspect.
The match offered a golden alternative for Essendon to get a much-needed proportion enhance over the underside workforce whose common dropping margin was 67 factors this yr.
But they solely elevated their proportion from 98.4 to 98.5. To end within the prime eight, they’ll most likely should nonetheless win their last three video games in opposition to North Melbourne, the Giants in Sydney and premiership favourites Collingwood, which seems to be extremely unlikely primarily based on their newest effort.
– with Ronny Lerner, NCA Newswire
Source: www.news.com.au
