Essendon will require a significant form turnaround and a minor miracle if it is to reach the semi-finals of the 2002 Wizard Cup after it was soundly beaten by Port Adelaide at Football Park tonight. A combination of sloppy skills and a rampant Port Adelaide mid-field saw the Bombers slump to a 28-point defeat. Essendon now needs to soundly beat the Western Bulldogs and Fremantle in the next two weeks and hope one of those side's can knock over Port if it is to make the last four of the competition. It was a dismal start to the season for Essendon and Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy didn't pull any punches when he spoke to the team after the game.

""I thought our skill level was very poor from a couple of our senior players in particular. We will be working very hard on that area of our game in the next six weeks,"" Sheedy said. ""I was disappointed - I didn't think there effort was there for the whole four quarters. I thought we would have been more competitive than we were."" Sheedy did find a couple of positives. ""I think young Shane Harvey showed he is a player of the future and David Hille battled hard in the ruck. Mark Mercuri, Damien Peverill and Joe Misiti got a bit of the ball and that was pleasing.""

Essendon started the game well. Kicking with a strong breeze, Port Adelaide was restricted to 3.1 in the first quarter. The Bombers managed to kick 2.3 into the wind and were trailing by just four points at the first change. Peverill was getting plenty of the football in the mid-field as was Scott Lucas across centre half forward. But the Bombers also failed to take advantage of the breeze in the second term and Port Adelaide actually increased its lead to 11-points at the main break.

The game was put out of the Bombers reach in the third quarter when Port Adelaide slammed on 5.5 to Essendon's 1.1. Warren Tredrea was proving a handful for Aaron Henneman while Peter Burgoyne was brilliant around goals. Port Adelaide is famous for its running game and it clicked into overdrive in the third. Wave after wave of Port Adelaide attack put Essendon's defence under enormous pressure. Only Joe Misiti (nine possessions) could hold his head high at three quarter time. The 39-point defecit was reduced to 28 when the final siren rang but that was hardly any consolation for Essendon. The margin probably flattered them in the final analysis.

So what will Essendon take out of the game? It lost the corresponding game last season by 79-points so there was an improvement. They did, however, field a far stronger side this time around. They did struggle in this competition last season and still made the Grand Final. There certainly won't be any panic but there is a lot of hard work to be done between now and the Bombers' round one clash with Geelong.

Statistics for the match:

Jordan Bannister - 15 possessions
Paul Barnard - 8
Justin Blumfield - 12
Mark Bolton - 11
Blake Caracella - 14
James Davies - 7
Dustin Fletcher - 7
Rob Forster-Knight - 2
Shane Harvey - 12
Aaron Henneman - 9
David Hille - 9
James Hird - 12
Danny Jacobs - 18
Jason Johnson - 11
Mark Johnson 21
Marcus Kenny - 2
Matthew Lloyd - 7
Scott Lucas - 17
Daniel McAlister - 6
Mark Mercuri - 16
Joe Misiti - 22
Damien Peverill - 17
Dean Rioli - 15
Sean Wellman - 13