Saturday 26 July - Hotham Recreation Reserve
Crowd - 2000
Hotham 2.5
Melbourne 1.8 (half time 2.5-0.0)
Hotham win by 1 goal
Goalkicker: McAlister 1
Having already beaten Hotham once for the season, and coming off a two game winning streak, Melbourne seemed likely to continue their run, but were handicapped by several regular players not turning up. The match also suffered from a large part of the arena being covered with tan which stopped players from running and bouncing as the ball would not come back to them. The tan had been poured because the ground was covered in slime before the match.
From the first kick off, with the use of the wind, Hotham had Melbourne desperately defending, and they kept the visitors on the back foot for the whole first half. They got the first two goals, with another disallowed, while Melbourne failed to score. With the wind barely giving an advantage in the second half, Melbourne still dominated. They rushed a behind from the kickoff, and after turning back an attack, McAlister got their opener..
Jones could have equalised, but his kick from 20 yards was wide, and Pohlman hit the post in the dying minutes but Melbourne couldn't find a second goal and were beaten.
Best were Jones, Aitken and Pohlman.
Media
Argus - 28/07/1884
Sportsman - 30/07/1884
North Melbourne Advertiser - 01/08/1884
Australasian - 02/08/1884