Port, Blues in torrid draw

Port Adelaide and Carlton have fought a heart-stopping draw - 15.19 (109) to 16.13 (109) - in a desperate finish to a thriller at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night.

The Blues struggled in the first half but outscored the Power 8.8 to 4.13 after half-time, including 4.2 to 2.10 in the final quarter when the lead changed five times.

Both teams made critical mistakes under extreme pressure while the game was waiting for a winner.

Trent Sporn kicked the last goal of the match to put Carlton two points clear but Adam Kingsley and Brendon Lade scored behinds for Port to force the draw.

As always in such tight finishes, both sides would have been unlucky to lose, and they could reflect ruefully on eight shots for goal hitting the post - Carlton five times, Port three times.

Carlton forward ace Brendan Fevola booted 4.4 and Port's crack forward Warren Tredrea kicked 2.5.

Kane Cornes, Peter Burgoyne, Stuart Dew and Peter Walsh were prominent for Port and Ryan Houlihan, Brett Johnson and Andrew Carrazzo shone for the Blues.

Port had the better of the first half - 25 more kicks, 38 more handpasses and 16 more marks - and was entitled to its 19-point lead at quarter-time and its 18-point break at half-time.

But the Blues burst back into the game early in the third quarter by adding 2.3 - Fevola and Troy Longmuir kicked the goals and Fevola missed one he should have kicked - and trailed by only four points - 10.8 to the Power's 11.6.

Goals to Port's Brett Ebert and Carlton's Matthew Lappin and a behind to Carlton's Brett Johnson left the Blues only three points in arrears before Port added 1.2 to Carlton's 1.1 for a four-point lead at three-quarter time.

Tredrea kicked his fifth behind to start the final quarter but goals from Barnaby French and Callum Chambers in the first five minutes of the term gave the Blues the lead for the first time in the match - 14.11 to 13.10

Port's 15.19 was a big improvement on its previous three scores of 7.11 against Fremantle, 11.9 against the Brisbane Lions and 8.8 against Adelaide.

The Power was striving for its sixth successive victory against Carlton, which last beat the Power (by 34 points) at AAMI Stadium in round 12 of 2001.

Port still leads Carlton 9-3 overall, including 6-2 at AAMI Stadium - plus the draw.

Port surprised by starting Michael Wilson on Fevola and Darryl Wakelin on Lance Whitnall, while Carlton opened with Anthony Koutoufides on Tredrea.

Wilson and Wakelin swapped just before half-time after Fevola's third goal (two in two minutes late in the first term). Koutoufides went on to the ball in the second quarter and Whitnall went on to Tredrea, whose kicking (1.3) let him down before half-time. Wilson moved across to a back pocket on Troy Longmuir.

Crucially, Port benefited from Carlton errors and scored six of its 11 first-half goals in the time-on period - two late in the first quarter, four near the end of the second term.

Port coach Mark Williams started his post-match media conference by saying: "Drawn games give you a funny sort of feelings. I thought we began the game really well, having finished so poorly last week.

"It was great to see the confidence was back in the group … and to be able to handle the tactics of the opposition and score six goals in the first quarter was terrific.

"I thought Carlton probably got some easy goals from our mistakes with turnovers, which were costly in the end. Towards the last quarter I thought Carlton had the run and were making the play, and, to the credit of the players, we did fight back.

"But kicking 2.10 in the last quarter would never help you win a game. If it was 10.2, it would have been a fairly big difference.

"Carlton have to be very happy with their result because not too many people beat us here. But we're not thrilled by it. We'd have taken a one-point win and gone home and got ready for next week.

"We've moved a little bit forward from last week but there's no satisfaction in our room."

When Carlton coach Denis Pagan was asked whether it felt like 'half a victory', he said: "I remember Allan Jeans saying it feels like 'dancing with your sister', and that's probably what it feels like."

Asked what he had said to his players after the game, Pagan said: "We acknowledged the good efforts, we talked about the spirit of the guys, we talked about defence and how we wasted opportunities at the end of the third quarter, and we individually told the guys who performed well and the ones who could get better."

PORT ADELAIDE: 6.3, 11.6, 13.9, 15.19 (109)
CARLTON: 3.2, 8.5, 12.11, 16.13 (109)

GOALS – Port Adelaide: Montgomery 2, P. Burgoyne 2, Thurstans 2, Ebert 2, Tredrea 2, White 2, Primus, Wanganeen, Dew
Carlton: Fevola 4, Wiggins 2, Deluca, Houlihan, Carrazzo, Waite, Longmuir, Lappin, Bowyer, French, Chambers, Sporn

BEST – Port Adelaide: K. Cornes, P. Burgoyne, Dew, Walsh, Kingsley, Montgomery
Carlton: Houlihan, Fevola, Johnson, Carrazzo, Wiggins, Waite

INJURIES – Port Adelaide: Shattock (hip)
Carlton: Nil

REPORTS - Brogan (Port Adelaide) by field umpire Vozzo and goal umpire Berkovic for misconduct in that he headbutted French (Carlton) late in the third quarter

UMPIRES - Vozzo, Stevic, Ryan
CROWD - 33,519 at AAMI Stadium