Saints Fall by 2pts

16 August 2009

IN A SEASON of classic football matches, Essendon's two-point win over the undefeated St Kilda on Sunday must surely be the best of the lot, with the win catapulting the Bombers back into the eight.

Heavily compromised by injury, the Bombers held on despite St Kilda surging in the last quarter, and looked to have the win in the bag after an errant handball from Saints star Justin Koschitzke with a minute left let the Bombers go forward.

Brent Prismall could only hit the post to extend the lead to two points, and the Saints then swept the ball down the ground for Nick Riewoldt to mark 45 metres out with just seconds remaining.

As he went back, the siren went, but he missed to the right and the Bombers were home, 16.14 (110) to 16.12 (108).

The Bombers had led by 43 points midway through the third term, but a mounting injury toll and relentless St Kilda pressure told, and the Saints kicked the last seven majors of the match to fall agonisingly short of keeping alive the dream of an undefeated season.

The Bombers were beautifully led by Jobe Watson, who had it 37 times including six clearances. Angus Monfries kicked four, and former Cat Prismall kicked a couple.

Jarrod Atkinson had 19 touches but had a greater influence on the game than those numbers suggested, while Brent Stanton, Michael Hurley and Andrew Lovett were also standouts.

Koschitzke was the star for the Saints - almost knocked out early in the game, he booted three, as did Stephen Milne and Adam Schneider. Nick Dal Santo, Lenny Hayes and Leigh Montagna helped get the Saints back into the game.

The Saints began as they had gone for most of the season, with purpose and direction, and booted the first three, but then the Bombers kicked three of the next four and took a five-point lead into the first break.

The Bombers then looked unbeatable as they booted seven of the next eight goals to go to a 33-point lead, but a couple of late goals to Koschitzke and Riewoldt got the margin back to 20 points at the long break.

The Bombers raced to a 43-point lead with five of the first six goals of the third term, but the Saints regrouped, nailing three of the final four goals of the term to trail by 29 points heading into the final quarter.

While the Saints powered on, not letting the Bombers get a goal in the last, they just couldn't get there.

In the final two weeks of the regular season, the Saints have North Melbourne (Docklands) and Melbourne (MCG), while the Bombers face Fremantle (Subiaco Oval) and Hawthorn (MCG).

Essendon 3.3 10.6 16.9 16.14 (110)

St Kilda 4.2 7.4 11.10 16.12 (108)

GOALS

Essendon: Monfries 4, Neagle 2, Ryder 2, Prismall 2, Fletcher, Hurley, McPhee, Watson, Atkinson, Lovett

St Kilda: Milne 3, Koschitzke 3, Schneider 3, Fisher 2, Riewoldt 2, Armitage 2, Dal Santo

BEST

Essendon: Watson, Monfries, Pears, Atkinson, Hurley, Stanton, Prismall, McVeigh

St Kilda: Koschitzke, Hayes, Dal Santo, Montagna, Milne, Gram

INJURIES

Essendon: Reimers (general soreness) replaced in selected side by Davey, Fletcher (hamstring), Dempsey (hamstring), Stanton (quad/hip), Ryder (knee), Watson (leg soreness)

St Kilda: Nil

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Stewart, Grun, Ryan

Official crowd: 41,410 at Docklands

Source: www.saints.com.au

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Melissa Arbuthnot
melissa.arbuthnot@communecom.com.au

Janina Czado
janina@communecom.com.au

CommunEcom Strategic Communications
P.O. Box 689
Balgowlah NSW 2093

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Saints Fall by 2pts

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