Saturday 11 August - Exhibition Ground
Crowd: 3000
Victorian 0
Melbourne 1 (half time 0-0)
Melbourne win by 1 goal
Goalkicker: Downes 1
With the acting Governor of South Australia looking on, the locals won the toss and kicked with the wind in their favour. On a small ground it only took a few minutes for Melbourne to drive them back to their goal line and attack strongly. They wasted chances despite forcing their opposition to defend for practically the entire half, struggling to come to terms with the smaller South Australian ball.
Melbourne's best chance early came from a kick that seemed to go through the goal but was disallowed.
After wasting so many chances Melbourne were shocked into action when Victorians attacked and nearly goalled. They kept missing chances before finally Downes kicked the ball off the ground after a clearance from the opposition goalkeeper. Five minutes later the match was called.
Best were Byrne, Moffatt and Lognden
Selected team
Aitken, Anthony, Baker, Cooke, Goldsmith, Houston, Longden, McKie (vc), Moffatt, Suhard, Seward, Munro, Downes, H. Lamrock, Jenvey, Cumming, Reeve, Byrne (c), Gilchrist, Sandilands
Notes
'Binney' is shown as playing in some sources, but this is a misspelling of Byrne.
Some sources say the South Australian ball was larger rather than smaller.
Media
Evening Journal - 07/08/1877
Express and Telegraph - 13/08/1877
Australasian - 18/08/1877