HT: This game is on. At half-time the Bombers cling to a five point lead. Darcy fogarty had a shot at goal on the siren to level the score, but missed.
Essendon dominated play and stretched the lead to 21 points at one stage in that term, but the Jordan Dawson-inspired Crows were able to pull back the momentum.
Frustratingly for Brad Scott, the Crows’ three goals in four minutes came from Bomber errors, including a Sam Draper 50m penalty.
Essendon dominated the inside 50s – 32 to 16.
At half-time, Essendon lead 39 to 34.
Sam Draper can’t get on the ground.
He has been standing at the interchange desperate to get on the ground, but the play has not come near him.
He has been off for 12 minutes, and there is only a minute left in the second term.
Jake Stringer looks ready to explode. He has kicked 1.2, and is applying huge tackling pressure.
His last two shots on goal have missed, but if he finds his radar, he can do some enormous damage to the Crows. His second effort saw him burst through a stoppage and fire off a monster snap that just missed.
After giving up the last three goals, the Bombers have now had the ball living in their forward line.
Essendon opened the gate, and here come the Crows. They have booted three goals in four minutes and the crowd is going ballistic. Brad Scott will be fuming.
The third came from a beautiful longe-range bomb off the boot of Jordan Dawson. He now has two.
This is a three-point ball game. Bombers ahead. Just.
Just when Essendon had put their foot to Adelaide’s throat, Sam Draper has a brain fade and gives away a 50m penalty to Jordan Dawson. It that takes him to within scoring range. He boots truly.
It sucks the life out of the Bombers who have done all the work. A double blow. Chayce Jones follows up with the Crows’ second goal in two minutes. This one came off the back of a poor Essendon kick.
Seven minutes remaining in the second term, the Bombers by nine points. And the Crows’ crowd is growing louder.
The Bombers are hitting the scoreboard. They nailed the second goal of the quarter through Ben Hobbs, and then Jake Stringer came to the party.
The ball is living in Essendon’s forward line. The Crows are under siege. As a result, they have pushed numbers up to saturate the stoppages. And they are only going at 48% by foot.
Bombers lead by 21 points.
QT: Bombers captain Zach Merrett led from the front with 13 first-quarter disposals as the visitors dictated for the majority of the term.
The Crows could barely find the footy early – and when they eventually did, their ball use was haphazard. Essendon set up well behind the footy but they couldn’t capitalise on either Adelaide’s regular cough-ups or their own territory dominance.
The Crows started with Izak Rankine in the centre-square, where he was met by Sam Durham, last week’s giant-slayer of Marcus Bontempelli.
The forward pressure from Essendon is still red-hot. They are clamping down on the Adelaide defenders every time the Crows try and look for some run. Jake Stringer has been leading the way.
If the Bombers can keep up this heat, they can take this contest. They lead the tackle count 35-21. But if they let it slip, there is a sense the Crows will uncoil and hit back hard.
Nick Hind is still going with the shaved head look.Credit: Getty Images
On a different note, Nick Hind’s shaved head is shining bright like a diamond.
At the 13-minute mark, Bombers lead by nine points.
That’s the start the Bombers would be after for this second quarter – one minute in and Darcy Parish goals.
Bombers lead by eight point.
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