Friday 15th August 2014, the Cats' good luck continued into Round 21 with a hard-fought win over the Blues. In a generally scrappy affair, the game had some marginal similarities to the Round 12 clash and there were numerous points of contention that arose. Geelong played its best football early on in the night in the 1st quarter. The Cats brought more pressure and made better use of their chances. They kicked 3 goals to 1 and led at quarter time by 10 points. From the 2nd quarter onwards, Carlton began to get on top of proceedings, kicking 4 of the first 6 goals of the term. A lucky Hamish McIntosh put through a goal out of nowhere to put the Cats back in front for half time, the margin having been halved to 5 points. It was a very wasteful Geelong in the 3rd quarter. There were plenty of chances to stamp authority, but out of 10 scoring shots, only 2 resulted in goals. In the Blues’ best quarter for the match, they kicked 3 consecutive goals to give themselves the biggest lead of the game, being 12 points. However, 1 goal and a plethora of behinds by the Cats cut the difference to 3 points going into 3-quarter time. In a tense final quarter, Carlton many times appeared to be in control, but it was Geelong that played a more risk-taking style of football. It would end up paying off as they kicked 3 goals to 2 - a great curling set shot by Josh Caddy, a superb long goal by sub Jackson Thurlow and a satisfactory kick by Allen Christensen that he was very lucky to receive. In a largely uneventful final couple of minutes, the Cats would hold on to win another heart-stopping contest and well and truly guaranteeing themselves a finish in the top 3 at the end of the regular season. Aside from a usually very good game by Joel Selwood, it was Cat Josh Caddy that had the ball on a string and Steven Motlop, now with less of a mop top (see what I did there?), could be very pleased with a game-high 3 goals to his name. Geelong by 6 points/behinds. Carlton 11.10 (76) defeated by Geelong 11.16 (82). Crowd: 38,812 at Etihad Stadium. Geelong goal scorers: S. Motlop 3, A. Christensen 2, M. Blicavs 1, J. Caddy 1, G. Horlin-Smith 1, H. McIntosh 1, J. Selwood 1, J. Thurlow 1.

• published: 16 Aug 2014
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