Josh Rachele has kicked the match-winner as an extraordinary Adelaide comeback sunk Essendon in a thriller at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
The Crows kicked eight straight goals to lead by 36 points just minutes before half-time, but a barnstorming comeback through to early in the fourth put the Bombers on the path to victory.
Yet the visitors, even with defenders Nick Murray and Jordon Butts injured on the bench, never gave up the fight and secured a 17.13 (115) to 17.11 (113) win.
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Ben Keays, at risk of facing a ban after a tackle gone wrong on Jye Caldwell, slotted his fifth goal before Darcy Fogarty nailed his fourth and fifth of the match to close to within a kick.
Then Rachele stepped up with a minute to go, celebrating with a fan as Channel 7’s James Brayshaw called it his very own James Hird moment.
The 21-year-old celebrated in almost identical fashion to when Hird kicked the match-winner against West Coast at the same ground 20 years ago.
“It was crazy,” Rachele said afterwards.
“A few special moments from Ben Keays and Darcy Fogarty in that last quarter. But there’s a few moments for small forwards not going your way, that last moment really went my way and I was very grateful.”
On the celebration, he said: “We’ve got to be loyal to our fans. It’s great to see a lot of them out here today, especially a lot of my friends and family. It was a special moment.”
It was a fitting finish to a rollercoaster match, after the Crows piled on 9.1 in the second term — the best quarter by any team this season.
While the glut of goals made for an entertaining game, Crows veteran Rory Laird admitted they went in with a defensive mindset.
“So that didn’t really work,” he joked.
“We tried to stop them and it sort of blew up in the second quarter. They’re a pretty good team, we got a run in the second and they caught up in the third.”
Adelaide have increased their chances of an unlikely finals appearance while Essendon, having last week blown a golden opportunity to solidify their spot in the top four, could now end this weekend out of the top eight.
Bombers forward Matt Guelfi will also face a nervous wait to learn if he is cited by the match review officer over a tackle on Sam Berry, with the Crows midfielder’s head appearing to hit the ground.
Guelfi was awarded a free kick for holding the ball, but the league-wide confusion over what constitutes a dangerous tackle means this will be a talking point.
Essendon young gun Nate Caddy could also be in trouble after colliding front-on with Adelaide captain Jordan Dawson in the third quarter.
– with AAP