It’s an AFL game Essendon coach James Hird wants to quickly forget and even Melbourne’s Mark Neeld wasn’t getting too excited about his maiden coaching victory.

Saturday night’s surprise 8.10 (58) to 6.16 (52) win brought some desperately-needed joy to the previously winless Demons.

It continued Jack Watts’ run of good form in defence and showed defender-turned-forward Colin Garland can be handy in attack, with two match-winning last-quarter goals.

But it was certainly not a football showcase.

Asked to nominate the biggest positive, Neeld said his side had produced a four-quarter effort, having let things slide in the last term against Carlton in the previous round.

But he was keeping it in perspective.

“There’s a bit of relief there,” Neeld said.

“But I’m also a big fan of being on the reality bus.

“It’s round 10 – we’ve won one game.”

While the Demons deserved credit for their desperation and seizing their chance, the Bombers – whose only previous loss this season was by a point to Collingwood – contributed largely to their own defeat.

The way they continually wasted their wealth of attacking moves was almost comical.

Their kicking for goal was terrible.

Key forwards Stewart Crameri, with 0.3, Michael Hurley, with 0.3 and another shot out on the full, and Paddy Ryder, with 0.2, were wasteful, while Ricky Dyson and Travis Colyer also missed simple shots.

The Bombers also continually fumbled and produced sloppy disposal in attack to fritter away what seemed certain goals.

“We couldn’t buy a goal,” Hird said.

“Every time we went forward, we found another way to either miss the goal or muck it up.

“We’ll look at the game, we’ll review it, but we certainly won’t be spending too much time on that game.”

Hird said the Bombers’ attack on the contested ball was also poor, but he was prepared to write the game off as an aberration.

“I certainly hope so,” he said.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to go back there next week.”