CARLTON 1.2 3.5 6.7 7.9 (51)
ST KILDA 4.3 10.5 14.6 19.8 (122)
GOALS – Carlton: Tuohy 3, Cripps 2, Armfield, Gibbs. St Kilda: Membrey 5, Bruce 4, Billings 2, Weller, Armitage, Wright, Newnes, Hickey, Roberton, Riewoldt, Acres.
BEST - Carlton: Simpson, Tuohy, Cripps, Docherty, Gibbs. St Kilda: Membrey, Gresham, Riewoldt, Montagna, Ross, Newnes, Bruce.
INJURIES - St Kilda: Dunstan (left shoulder)
REPORTS - Nil
​UMPIRES - Stevic, O'Gorman, Ryan
​CROWD - 37,797 at the MCG
"Mathematical chance"Â is a dirty phrase in footy parlance when talking about finals qualification, but St Kilda are exactly that after they smashed Carlton by 71 points at the MCG on Sunday.
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The victory catapulted the Saints into ninth spot, two games behind eighth-placed North Melbourne with three rounds to play.
St Kilda face Sydney, Richmond and the Brisbane Lions in the run home while North Melbourne take on Hawthorn, Sydney and GWS.
The Saints are up against it still due to their inferior percentage and must win all three games and hope the Kangaroos lose all of their remaining games.
But the fact that their season is still alive after round 20 is testament to coach Alan Richardson and suggests that finals footy is a genuine possibility next year.
As gallant as Carlton had been prior to this loss in narrow defeats to finals-bound West Coast, Sydney and Hawthorn, they have now lost eight games in a row for the first time since 2007-08 in what is a sobering reminder of how much work they still have ahead of them.
Carlton coach Brendon Bolton's biggest concerns going forward are leg speed and skill errors. The Saints ran the Blues off the park on Sunday and dramatically exposed their lack of pace.
St Kilda's ability to run from one end of the ground to the other and hit a tall target up forward set them apart from the Blues whose method heading into attack was haphazard to say the least.
The Saints ended up taking 20 more marks inside forward 50 than Carlton (27-7).
The Blues' work rate was also a huge issue. They were happy to run forward, but weren't prepared to run back the other way on the turnover.
Carlton's lack of accountability and pressure in the middle allowed the speedy Saints to score goals with ease and did their at-times disorganised defence no favours.
Tim Membrey (five goals, seven marks) provided a sound target up forward again for the Saints and was the main beneficiary of their midfield dominance. He now has 39 goals for the season.
Jade Gresham continued his impressive debut year with 25 disposals (13 contested) and eight clearances while Nick Riewoldt (21 disposals) took a whopping 16 marks.
Leigh Montagna (31 disposals), Seb Ross (27), Jack Newnes (32, nine marks), and Josh Bruce (four goals, nine marks) were also key to the Saints' biggest win over Carlton in 10 years.
Kade Simpson never gave up for the Blues with 39 touches and 10 marks, Zach Tuohy collected 25 disposals and drifted down from defence to boot three goals from outside 50 metres while Patrick Cripps was irrepressible with 32 possessions (17 contested), six clearances and six tackles.
The game started off as a scrappy affair with poor skill level and turnovers badly affecting both sides.
St Kilda arrested the funk, though, as they booted six of the first seven goals, including five in a row, to open up a 28-point lead early in the second quarter.
Carlton were still in the hunt when consecutive goals to Dennis Armfield and Tuohy cut the deficit to 16 points.
But the Saints piled on the next eight goals to open up a 65-point lead late in the third quarter and end the match as a contest.
It wasn't the ideal way for Carlton veteran Andrew Walker to finish his career after he announced his retirement during the week. He could only manage 10 touches in his 202nd and final match.
Some of the gloss was taken off St Kilda's victory with Luke Dunstan dislocating his left shoulder in the final term while Blake Acres might come under scrutiny for a whack to Matthew Kreuzer's stomach in the second quarter.