By Marcus Uhe
A pair of late goals from recruit Jack Billings helped the Casey Demons keep a threatening Essendon at bay on the way to securing a fifth win of the VFL season on Sunday afternoon.
Casey led for the duration of the contest and by 23 points at the final change, but three goals in the opening 10 minutes of the quarter to the Bombers put the result back into jeopardy.
Will Verrall nailed a steadier for the Demons to push the margin back to 11 points, but with 15 minutes elapsed in the term, plenty of time remained for the Bombers to snatch the lead.
Composure in the forward half from Shane McAdam and Noah Yze gifted Billings his first after 22 minutes to grow the lead to 17 points, before a Bailey Laurie centre clearance landed in his lap from the following centre bounce, seeing him convert the set shot opportunity on a slight angle.
22 points was the contest’s final margin, with Casey prevailing 13.12 90 to 10.8 68.
Three goals in the final eight minutes of the opening term gave Casey a 27-pont lead at the opening break, holding Essendon goalless in the process in a brilliant start.
Lacking key forward Matthew Jefferson, the Demons had to find new avenues to goal, and did so through its smaller players, in Oliver Sestan, Charlie Peters and Tyler Edwards, while Ben Brown also hit the scoreboard with a trademark galloping set shot.
The Berwick-Cranbourne Road end of the ground quickly became the scoring end of the ground, with eight of the first nine going to that end as the Bombers clawed their way back into the contest, reducing the lead to eight points midway through the second period.
Goals to Lachlan Hunter and another to Peters restored a 19-point lead at the long break, before goals were traded in the third term.
Essendon launched its run early in the final term, but Casey managed to hold them at arms-length for long enough.
It was just the second win on home soil for the season on Sunday afternoon, having struggled to maximise home conditions to the same extent as in previous seasons.
Laurie provided one of the highlights of the afternoon with a brilliant checkside goal on his right foot from hard against the boundary following a forward 50 stoppage, to go with his 32 disposals and 11 tackles in a typically industrious performance.
Billings, meanwhile, added 32 disposals and three tackles to his two important final quarter goals, maintaining his consistent output at VFL where he has averaged 24.6 touches in his five games.
Essendon dominated the hit-outs by could not convert its advantage to scoreboard ascendency, as Casey won the clearance count by 10 and inside 50s by 11, yet still laid 20 more tackle no doubt to the delight of the coaching panel.
Casey heads to Frankston on Saturday afternoon to tackle the Dolphins with slim hopes of a place in the competition’s wildcard round before the finals series still alive.
