Played late in the 1886 season, South Melbourne and Geelong both entered the match undefeated, meaning that it was nearly certain to decide the premiership.

Although scores remained close until the final quarter, the match was an ultimately a one-sided encounter, and Geelong 4.19 comfortably defeated South Melbourne 1.5 by a margin of three goals.

[2] The two clubs had met once earlier in the season, on 26 June at Corio Oval in a drawn match; South Melbourne took the early lead, and Geelong kicked two goals in the final quarter to secure a draw.

There was bad blood arising from the match: the South Melbourne team had arrived late after stopping in the town after their train arrived, resulting in the match being shortened by 20 minutes;[7] in a dispute which played out as a series of letters to the editor of The Age newspaper over the following week, Geelong accused South Melbourne of doing this deliberately, since Geelong's small and speedy team was well known for dominating final quarters when its opponents were fatigued.

The crowd strongly supported the home team, and an estimated 2,000 spectators travelled from Geelong to Melbourne by two special trains for the match.

Encroachment of the crowd into the playing arena was a common problem in the 1880s, which the committee dealt with by strengthening the fence[17] and having police patrol the boundary, both on foot and on horseback.

On the night before the match, three men wrenched fishplates off the Melbourne-to-Geelong railway line at a culvert near Laverton, an act of vandalism which would have caused a train wreck had a passenger train traversed it at full speed; railway inspectors identified the damage in the early morning, and repaired the line with minimal disruption to services.

[19] South Melbourne opened the match with a moment of trickery: as Roy lined up for the kick-off, Harper snuck in from the side and kicked off almost at right angles.

[19] Novel as this was, it was to little effect, as Geelong recovered and scored inside the first minute, Julien kicking a behind from the first shot at goal from a wide angle.

Then followed a series of attempts at goal by Phil McShane: his first, earned after Julien had won the ball from South Melbourne's Young, missed for a behind; his next two fell short and were marked by the South Melbourne defenders;[12] and with his next, from a set shot directly in front after receiving a mark from Foote, he scored his first goal, giving Geelong a 2.14 to 0.3 advantage.

South Melbourne then attacked, Mat Minchin gaining ground through the middle and passing to Roy, whose shot was rushed through by Sam Boyd.

[25] Minchin regained possession from Geelong's kick-off, passing the ball with Graves to Bushell, who kicked his team's first goal of the game.

[25] Geelong had dominated the game to this point and reputation for strong final quarters, but South Melbourne had the wind advantage and only a one-goal deficit, setting up a potentially exciting finish.

South Melbourne attacked first and quickly, Harper kicking an early behind from a long set shot;[19] but, it was his team's last score, and thereafter Geelong controlled play entirely.

Geelong's play was too fast for the bigger-bodied South Melbourne players, their short kicking and teamwork were exemplary,[12] and they won key matchups in the centre of the ground which gave them a territory advantage for most of the game.

[25] South Melbourne was tactically disorganised,[2] fumbled and held onto the ball much more than it usually did, and failed to execute its little marking game effectively.

[13] On both sides the game was scrappy overall, not played at a high pace and with relatively few big runs or scrimmages,[19] and even Geelong's skills weren't considered up to its usual standard.

[18] Hill, Young and Bodycomb were also strong for South Melbourne in defence, Mat Minchin its best in the centre, and Harper was its best attacking player.

The sneaky short kick-off which South Melbourne used at the start of the game was banned by the VFA in 1889,[28] with the kick off being discontinued altogether in favour of the centre bounce in 1891.