UNTIL the very end.

Despite a valiant effort from the Blues, they came out second best in a near loss to the Falcons.

The home side were hoping to get the upper hand this time round, but history repeated itself as a late flurry of goals by the visitors stopped Carlton in their tracks of a win.

Carlton was off to a hot start getting their eye in on goals quickly, but like recent weeks, they failed to convert and Darebin took full advantage. They went on to score two goals of their own, leaving Carlton trailing by 10 points at the first break.

The second quarter was exactly what the Blues wanted, kicking two goals and leaving their opposition scoreless. 

A fast reaction to the ball from Lulu Beatty (18 disposals, seven marks, and six intercept possessions) gave her time to sight the goals for someone in a better scoring opportunity. 

Beatty found the top of the goal square where the ball was tapped right into the arms of Emily Hurley who was in the right place at the right time. Hurley snapped the ball for the first goal of the day for Carlton.

It was a lot of back-and-forth plays from both sides with neither being able to really punish on the scoreboard. There were no changes to the scoreboard for 13 minutes, showing how tough it was to gain momentum and take control of the game.

After hitting the post earlier in the game, Eliza Wood (12 disposals, eight tackles, and four clearance) finished off her work with a much-needed major.  

The work rate of the Carlton midfield was tremendous with four players having over 20 disposals. Beatty went relatively under the radar this outing as she played her role consistently. The former Falcon had a 72 per cent disposal efficiency and was constantly looking to take the ball forward with four inside 50s.

A period of many turnovers from both sides, the siren sounded for the end of the third quarter where Carlton led by four points. 

At that moment, Carlton was winning their amount of possession and their overall ground work. They were +10 for hit outs, +7 for marks, and +5 for tackles.

Down by three with nine and a half minutes to go, there was some hope in the Carlton camp that another goal was on the horizon. That goal went to Darebin who couldn’t do anything but celebrate their win.

The Falcons ended up making the most of their inside 50 entries and evened out the hit outs and clearances for the game.

A goalless final term for the Blues saw them end their season with a nine-point loss to the Falcons who rewrote their season.

Match summary:

CARLTON                 0.3     2.3     3.5     3.5 (23)

DAREBIN                  2.1     2.1     3.1     5.2 (32)

GOALS
Hurley, McCarthy, Wood

BEST
Beatty, Finn, Read, Stokes, Trindade, Wood