Carlton pulls off miracle win over Fremantle without Charlie Curnow and Patrick Cripps

Patrick Cripps’ absence was compounded by an early injury to Charlie Curnow but Carlton never threw in the towel to record an incredible win over Fremantle with a last-minute goal from Marc Murphy.

Dale Thomas celebrates with Will Setterfield after putting the Blues in front late in the match. Picture: AAP

Thirty minutes into the final quarter of Sunday’s epic at Perth Stadium, Marc Murphy delivered the dagger to Fremantle that may end up being the difference between finals and September mothballs.

In a see-sawing last five minutes, Murphy gathered a ball spilled from a desperate scrimmage 15m from the Blues’ goal and kicked the unerring banana that put his team in front by four points — and ­lifted it off the bottom of the ladder.

Carlton defied the loss of Paddy Cripps in the lead in to the game and the loss of Charlie Curnow in the first quarter to win.

Fremantle had blown a chance to move a game inside the top eight.

Murphy had had 35 disposals, seven clearances and that precious goal. Ed Curnow had 16 clearances after being shifted off a rampant Nathan Fyfe early.

Youngsters Sam Petrevski-Seton and Sam Walsh were pivotal.

Marc Murphy celebrates after kicking the winning goal against the Dockers. Picture: AAP

Blues coach David Teague said he was proud that his players were able to hold up under the late pressure.

“When you are a coach and their executing what you want and are able to execute under pressure. To execute with the composure they had, they will get a lot of belief out of that,” he said.

“You are hoping what you are doing Monday to Friday pays off.

“I have said this before, if we do it for four quarters, I cannot wait for it. It is going to be really good to be a part of.”

Fremantle had too few left to do too much.

Fyfe had 29 disposals and kicked a goal. Connor Blakely, who was shifted into midfield, had 31.

Cam McCarthy kicked four goals and had a hand in two others.

But the Dockers were nervous and panicky and the Blues were deserved winners.

This was the sort of game that makes coaches nervous – the one where you are at home against the bottom team, they have their gun midfield missing and you are fighting for a spot in the eight.

Even without a few guns of your own, it is the one you know you should win.

And at quarter-time that was where this was headed.

With Cripps already in the stands with a foot injury, Carlton’s other young gun Charlie Curnow was in the rooms having a knee injury assessed after a fierce side on challenge by Ethan Hughes.

Curnow limps from the ground. Picture: AAP

Teague said he didn’t know how long the Blues would be without Curnow, who suffered a mild medial ligament injury in the first term.

“I do not know what mild means in a sense of time frame,” he said.

“He will get scans and they will know. We will find out later in the week.

“It is a relief that it is nothing worse, but what was pleasing was that other guys stepped up around him.”

The Dockers had five goals to nil on the board. McCarthy had his tail in the air with two first-quarter goals.

And the man sent to tag Nathan Fyfe, Carlton’s stand-in skipper Ed Curnow had conceded two first-quarter free kicks, forcing a more hands-off approach.

Fyfe had snuck forward on Curnow to mark and goal, adding insult to injury.

But by halftime, the home team’s nerves had well and truly set in.

The Blues had added four goals to one – the goals kicked one after the other in the first 22 minutes of the quarter – to narrow what had looked like a safe lead into a dicey 10-point margin at the main break.

There were three issues for Fremantle to address.

The first was at the contest, where the Blues were not only just as hard, but also better organised.

The second was delivery inside-50. Freo bombed away. The Blues went in low and hard and kicked two goals off spillage when defenders didn’t kill the ball in the air.

Nat Fyfe attempts to spoil Caleb Marchbank. Picture: AAP

And the third was forwards who didn’t compete.

While the delivery wasn’t great, too many Carlton defenders took marks with Dockers forwards standing by not doing much.

Carlton hit the front at the 10-minute mark of the third quarter through a Matthew Kennedy goal, but McCarthy kicked the last two goals of the term.

The lead didn’t look enough and Carlton kicked five goals to three in the last term to win it.

Despite winning two of his three games at the helm, Teague said he was never thinking about the possibility of holding the coaching job long term.

“I got a job to do and I am there to get my job done as the players are,” he said.

“Right now, I will be honest, I am having a ball.

“I am absolutely loving it and I am going to enjoy every moment of it and where it ends up, it ends up.

“The ladder side of things will take care of itself, we want to win.

“We have shown over three weeks that we are getting better and we will continue to get better.”

FREMANTLE 5.2 6.3 8.8 11.9 (75)

CARLTON 0.3 4.5 6.8 11.13 (79)

GOALS

Carlton: M Kennedy 2; J Silvagni, P Dow, L Casboult, M McGovern, K Simpson, M Gibbons, S Petrevski-Seton, D Thomas, M Murphy

Fremantle: C McCarthy 4; M Walters 2; N Fyfe, B Matera, B Cox, D Tucker, S Switkowski

BEST

Carlton: M Murphy, E Curnow, M Kreuzer, S Walsh, N Newman, S Petrevski-Seton.

Fremantle: N Fyfe, E Langdon, C McCarthy, C Blakely, S Switkowski, R Conca

INJURIES

Carlton: C Curnow (knee)

Fremantle: Nil

Umpires: D Margetts, R O’Gorman, N Brown

Crowd: TBA (wasn’t announced)