Saturday 19 July - MCG
Melbourne 5
East Melbourne 1 (half time 3-1)
Melbourne win by 4 goals
Goalkickers: McDonald 2, McKenzie 1, Bennie 1, Lempriere 1
Without a win against any of the 'senior' VFA clubs for over two months, Melbourne instead turned to a match against one of the juniors to try and gain some confidence. They had originally supposed to have played South Melbourne but the sides couldn't agree on a ground. East Melbourne only agreed to take on the Reds at the last minute, ditching a game against Hawthorn to play a senior side instead.
With captain Bob Sillett unavailable, Lamrock captained Melbourne and his side did the early attacking but were shocked by East kicking the first goal from a difficult angle. This sparked Melbourne and by half time they had kicked three goals, and in the second 'hour' they were dominant in adding another two without reply.
The margin could have been even more if the game hadn't been shortened by 20 minutes.
Best were Bennie, Baker and E. Longden.
Media
Argus - 21/07/1879
Australasian - 26/07/1879