Saturday 7 July - East Melbourne
Crowd - 6000-8000

Melbourne 4.11
Essendon 5.7 (half time 2.4-4.5)

Essendon win by 1 goal

Goalkickers: Billy Stiffe 2, George Aitken 1, McIntyre 1

After going without defeat in a VFA match for over a month, Melbourne were brought down to earth by Essendon for the second time in 1883. Heavy rain before and during the match ruined the contest, but despite losing four of their best players Essendon were too strong in the end.

With the ball more often than not being kicked along the ground the two sides put on a surprisingly high scoring game. Essendon won the toss and kicked with a breeze, allowing them to kick three goals to one in the first 30 minutes. The lone Melbourne goal fell to Stiffe.

Essendon put out the pacier team, and they used this advantage to score two more in a row to take a 3-1 lead before George Aitken dragged one back - but as the half came to a close Essendon had Melbourne's goal under siege again and one of their substitutes scored a fourth major.

Rain continued to fall heavily during the break, and the two sides took up their positions for the second half in the middle of a storm. The ground was left resembling a sheet of water. Power, a discarded Melbourne player, scored Essendon's fifth before Melbourne had a consolation through Stiffe. McIntyre got another late to close the gap to just one goal.

Best were Collins, McIntyre and McKenzie.

Notes
Some sources have Essendon's score as 5.9

Media
Argus - 09/07/1883
Sportsman - 11/07/1883
Australasian - 14/07/1883