The blast from Sheedy followed what loomed as a percentage booster for the team before half time. Essendon stretched its lead out to 59-points early in the third term. However, the Dockers clawed their way back into the contest after the main break and came within 25-points midway through the final term.
Bomber's assistant coach Kevin Morris said the club knew the Dockers would fight back hard after the break. ""You always know that when you are playing a good side that they are going to put on some pressure and come back,"" Morris said.
Essendon squandered many chances in front of goal in the opening quarter and could have had the game stitched up by quarter time - they booted 4.8 in the first term. ""It would have been nice to score seven goals in the first and second quarter but that's footy. We got plenty of shots we should have kicked,"" he said.
The game became an ugly spectacle after half time as both sides struggled to take control.
""We are not happy about that ourselves (play being bottled up after half time), it meant that we went forward we did not have players up there who could get the possessions to continue that score board pressure,"" said Morris.
The successful return of James Hird and the improved goal kicking of Matthew Lloyd were a few of the major highlights for the 38, 000 strong crowd. ""He (Lloyd) would have to be pretty happy about his form tonight wouldn't he? He was under plenty of pressure taking his marks and he kicked truly,"" he said.
""We put the pressure on them early but they came back at us. If you had have said would you be happy with a five goal win at the start of the night, we would have taken it,"" Morris said.
