A BRAVE Richmond side has gone down fighting to lose to Carlton by 20 points at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers won the last quarter five goals to three and cut a 38-point margin to just 14 with only minutes remaining, but the Blues managed to hold on and win 16.13 (109) to 12.17 (89). 

Both sides fielded vastly different teams to the ones they did in Carlton's 83-point round one thrashing, and the hype surrounding the game didn't reach anywhere near the previous occasion. 

However, some impressive fourth-term fighting by the yellow and black made for a tight finish as they suddenly came alive and challenged the Blues.

A late goal to Brenda Fevola, which took his tally for the afternoon to a career-best nine, sealed the deal for the Blues and took them to their eighth win for the season.  

Will Thursfield worked hard against Fevola, and Ben Cousins did everything he could in the midfield with 35 touches while Richard Tambling (19 touches, nine tackles) put in another encouraging performance.

There were decided positives for the Tigers, among some glaring mistakes.

Tyrone Vickery kicked two fourth-term goals that gave his side a brief heartbeat, Robin Nahas had a purple patch in the third and Jayden Post took a soaring mark in the third term in just his second game.

Daniel Jackson did well for 32 possessions while running with Chris Judd (29), and Jake King blanketed Kade Simpson to 14 touches while Brett Deledio had six clearances and seven inside-50s.

Richmond, minus high-possession getter Nathan Foley (calf), were left stunned after the Blues got the first goal of the game through Brad Fisher within 20 seconds of the bounce.

It took over seven minutes for them to respond, with their first six-pointer coming when Deledio kicked truly from outside 50m.

After Deledio's goal levelled the scores, Jack Riewoldt had a chance to give the Tigers a six-point lead soon later after marking in front of Michael Jamison. However, the kick swerved and hit the post.

Eddie Betts and Riewoldt traded goals before Bryce Gibbs managed to find space and run in to register his first to give the Blues a six-point lead.

Cousins upped his work rate after a slow start and fired off a handpass to Mitch Morton at the 29-minute mark that gave the Tigers a goal and a one-point lead at quarter time.

Carlton started the second term in similar fashion to the first when Fevola outmuscled Thursfield to mark and score the first major.

However, Riewoldt hit back again after some impressive work by Nahas on the wing found the ball in his hands, well and truly within range.

It wasn't until after 12 minutes the Blues were able to score consecutive goals, which came when Marc Murphy snared one on the run before Alex Rance decided to kick the ball across the Tigers' defensive arc, only for it to deviate away from Chris Newman and end up in the hands of Fevola.

Another costly error, this time at the kick-in, saw the Blues get another soon after, with Greg Bentley kicking accurately and giving his side a 20-point lead.

Nahas got the next two for the Tigers through free kicks, but they were nullified by Fevola, who took his first-half tally to four shortly before the siren, which left the main break difference at 20 points.

Fevola capitalised on his sharp second term with the first goal of the third, but Tigers' captain Chris Newman cut that score away four minutes later to keep his side within three goals.

It was the last chance Richmond fans would get to celebrate for awhile as the Blues accelerated to kick the last four goals of the term – three of which went to Fevola.

Richmond entered the fourth 31 points down, but performed valiantly to cut that difference as the clock wound down.

Richmond will now play North Melbourne at the MCG next Sunday, while Carlton will host the Sydney Swans at the Docklands on Saturday.

Carlton  3.3  9.8  13.9  16.13 (109)
Richmond  3.4  6.6  7.14  12.17 (89) 

GOALS
Carlton: Fevola 9, Fisher, Betts, Gibbs, Murphy, Bentley, Carrazzo, Kreuzer
Richmond: Riewoldt 3, Nahas 2, Deledio 2, Vickery 2, Morton, Newman, King

BEST
Carlton: Fevola, Judd, Carrazzo, Grigg, Gibbs, Kreuzer, Murphy 
Richmond: Cousins, Tambling, Jackson, Deledio, Riewoldt, King, Vickery

INJURIES
Carlton: O'hAilpin (general soreness) out of selected side, replaced by Anderson
Richmond:

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Kennedy, Dalgleish, McInerney

Official crowd: 50,784 at the MCG

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.