COLLINGWOOD 3.2  7.7  9.9  16.9 (105) CARLTON 2.2  5.3  7.6  13.9 (87)
Goals: Collingwood: A Fasolo 4 B Reid 4 D Swan 3 J Elliott 2 B Maynard J Blair J Crisp. Carlton: A Everitt 4 L Casboult 2 M Murphy 2 A Carrazzo B Boekhorst D Buckley M Whiley T Bell
BEST: Collingwood: Pendlebury, Swan, Fasolo, Crisp, Grundy, Maynard. Carlton: Murphy, Cripps, Bell, Docherty, Everitt, Simpson.
Injuries: Collingwood: J Blair (corked thigh). Carlton: S Docherty (shoulder).
Umpires: Justin Schmitt, Scott Jeffery, Curtis Deboy
Official Crowd: 48,133 at MCG

With fraying nerves and bursting sinews, Collingwood snapped a six-game losing streak to defeat arch-rival Carlton by 18 points at the MCG on Saturday.

The Magpies came into the game as solid favourites, always looked like winning, but somehow made heavy work of putting away a determined opponent. Collingwood led by 29, 21 and 24 points at various stages of the second half, but Carlton just kept nipping at their heels.

A match between two such storied rivals always had a touch of the surreal about it. How often in this great rivalry have the protagonists come into a game with one win between them in the previous 12 games. How often has a modern-day MCG clash between them drawn fewer than 50,000 spectators?

In the end, Collingwood went into the game with a six-game losing streak and, in winning, inflicted the same sorry fate on Carlton. That was vital for the Pies, who could not clinch a place in the final eight with a win, but could have played themselves out of contention with a further loss.

Errors were strewn through the game like confetti at a wedding. Nathan Buckley and John Barker will still be picking them out of pockets and hair for a few days yet. Collingwood simply made fewer errors and, in Scott Pendlebury and Dane Swan, had a minor, but significant edge in class around the ball.

That is something of a slight, perhaps, on Carlton's Marc Murphy and Patrick Cripps. Murphy was almost as prolific as the Collingwood pair, his impact measured by the booing he received from Collingwood fans, presumably for the "crime" of receiving one or two contentious free kicks.

Cripps, for his part, almost dragged the Blues back into the contest on his own, with six clearances in the last quarter alone. The Blues closed to within three points early in the term and seven later on, but could get no closer.

Two passages of play illustrated the difference. Dylan Buckley raced forward to take a handball from Andrew Walker and goal before, in the very next passage of play, the ball went forward for Swan to mark and Buckley was penalised 50 metres for his mostly over-committed, but unfortunately late and clumsy attempt to spoil. A 50 metres penalty enabled Swan to restore the margin to 15 points.

A little later, Ben Reid scored his fourth goal of the afternoon with an opportunistic kick off the ground which Sam Docherty touched mere centimetres over the line (the ball had come back to Reid with an even more opportunistic shovel from Alex Fasolo, which was deemed somehow not to have been a throw).

From the centre bounce, Carlton attacked and Andrejs Everitt raced inside 50 metres onto a loose ball only to blaze wide and out-of-bounds on the full. Another chance missed when Carlton could ill afford to miss any more.

There was little to choose between Swan and Pendlebury for Collingwood's best. It was Pendlebury's ability to use the ball creatively which drove Collingwood most of the day, but Swan's sheer doggedness which drove them on in the final quarter. He was twice involved in the build-up to Jarryd Blair's final-quarter goal, which pushed the lead out to 18 points, crashing through a pack to gain possession and handball clear and then again finding a teammate with another handball which led to the goal.

Reid, playing his 100th game but first since round 21 last year, kicked four goals. He started the game at full-forward and marked strongly in the first couple of minutes as Fasolo found him with a centring kick. He missed that shot, but got his team's first soon after.

Fasolo also kicked four goals, and could have had five had Travis Varcoe not conceded a free kick for high contact on Walker as Fasolo was lining up from 40 metres.

Everitt kicked four for Carlton. He was opposed for much of the game by first-gamer Jonathon Marsh, who showed plenty of dash as he went forward off half-back.

So Collingwood their finals campaign afloat while Carlton can travel to Brisbane next weekend with some confidence that a win is not far away.

VOTES:

S Pendlebury (Coll)  . . . 9

D Swan (Coll)    . . . . 9

M Murphy (Carl) . . . . 8

P Cripps (Carl) . . . .  8

A Fasolo (Coll)  . . . . 7