Saturday June 15 - South Melbourne Cricket Ground
Crowd: 1000
Albert Park 1
Melbourne 1
Match drawn
Goalkicker: Charles Baker 1
Having got their first major win of the season on the board a week earlier, Melbourne slipped up on a ground which was in a disgraceful condition after rain, and under water in several places.
Conditions were so poor that the game was almost entirely spent with players trying to stay upright. The ball itself was so heavily saturated that marking was impossible, and even if players could pick it up they could only kick short distances.
Melbourne pressed strongly early on, keeping the ball in front of the Albert Park goal and scoring three behinds without managing a major. Immediately after the third behind Charles Baker marked and scored the first goal for Melbourne from 20 yards out. With the Reds pushing players up the ground looking for more goals Albert Park counter-attacked to equalise just before half time.
For the first fifteen minutes of the second half the home side had all the play, kicking what they thought was a goal but which was disallowed by central umpire Tom Wills as it had been touched on the way through. In the terrible conditions players could barely run, and a missed shot by Charles Baker was Melbourne's last chance to win.
Best were Longden, Cooper and Sandilands. Tom Wills acted as central umpire. A fifth of the proceeds were donated to a 'Pearce Testimonial Fund'.
Media
Advocate - 15/06/1878
Australasian - 15/06/1878
Argus - 17/06/1878