Saturday 19 July - East Melbourne
Crowd: 4000-6000
Melbourne 3.13
Essendon 2.8 (half time 2.8-1.1)
Melbourne win by 1 goal
Goalkickers: McAllister 1, Propsting 1, Franks 1
Having not beaten Essendon since July 1881 there was no better time to face them as they were suffering from injury plague suffered on a recent tour of Tasmania which robbed them of a number of important players. It led to a dull start to the game.
Melbourne, on the other hand, sent out a relatively strong 20 and could have had the first goal but it was disallowed by the umpire. Not long afterwards they made amends courtesy of McAllister who kicked truly on an angle. Essendon's defenders did their bit to keep their side in the game but holding Melbourne at bay, but with the wind Melbourne just kept attacking and the bad luck which had plagued the home side continued when they had a player knocked out in a contest.
Much of the game was spent with the ball on the boundary line due to a tricky breeze. Several more behinds followed before Propsting kicked Melbourne's second goal. Essendon got one late in the half, but went in behind and with a significantly lower amount of scoring shots.
With the use of the breeze Essendon attacked early in the second, scoring five behinds in a row before eventually breaking through for the equaliser. In spite of the strong wnd blowing into their faces Melbourne then attacked again and scored four behinds before Franks kicked the winner.
Best were the younger Cussen, Jones and Spooner.
Media
Argus - 21/07/1884
Sportsman - 23/07/1884
Australasian - 26/07/1884