Essendon’s defence has withstood the Gold Coast's territorial advantage to record its second victory of the season.

The Suns won the clearances (35-28) and the inside 50’s (69-44) but managed nine goals to fall short by six points.

The Bombers defence was further tested when key defender Michael Hartley copped a heavy knock in a marking contest.

He spent a large part of the game on the bench, further stretching an undersized defence.

Matt Dea (Sam Day) and Patrick Ambrose (Tom Lynch) played on taller opponents.  Dea said Mitch Brown also played an important role when he moved to the backline to cover the absence of Hartley.

“It hurts with ‘Harts’ going down, we really do miss him,” Dea said.

“It was a great effort by him to get back into it – it was a pretty hard knock.

“Browny was big coming back for us.  He did a great job for us and held up and when ‘Harts’ came back he really lifted and played with a lot of confidence.

“We all keep each other up so it’s a team within a team down there.”

The match had added significance for Dea with the former Tiger playing his 50^th AFL game.

He arrived at the Bombers with 31 games to his name and has missed only one game this season, after spending the entire 2015 season in Richmond’s VFL side.

“I was hoping to play one (game) as cliché as that is,” Dea said.

“I never thought at all that I would get to 50.

“It’s a small milestone but I guess for me its a little bit bigger – through a bit of adversity… but hopefully there is a few more games in the red and black.

“I thought I was AFL ready, not to dominate, but to come in and play a role, but I just didn’t get that opportunity.

“I’m so grateful that Essendon has given me that chance.

“I’ve still got a lot to prove and I’ve still got a long way to get better, but I feel I’m making some inroads.”

Dea collected 20 possessions, took seven marks and laid three tackles against the Suns, while also keeping Day to two goals. 

“It’s a great feeling, we’ve been improving all year, we just haven’t got the win,” he said.

“The boys really deserve it, we’ve been working really hard for a long time so to get the reward is huge.”