St Kilda has overcome a sluggish start to record a 19.11 (125) to 12.13 (85) win over Carlton at Telstra Dome on Saturday night.

The Saints trailed the upstart Blues by as much as 23 points in the first term before storming to the lead with seven unanswered goals and icing the win in the third quarter when they kept Carlton goalless while adding four of their own.

Luke Ball, Lenny Hayes and Leigh Montagna each had 28 touches, while Jason Gram (27 disposals) and Xavier Clarke (21 possessions and three goals) provided excellent rebound from defence.

Leigh Fisher played an important part in the win, keeping Blues’ danger man Chris Judd to 19 possessions with seven of those coming in the last quarter when the contest was over.

Fraser Gehrig has lost none of his physical presence and celebrated his first game back from his brief retirement with four goals with Stephen Milne contributing four of his own.

At the other end of the ground, Max Hudghton effectively curbed the influence of Brendan Fevola, keeping the spearhead to just two majors.

Bryce Gibbs was the top possession winner for Carlton with 26 with Marc Murphy (23 touches) and Bret Thornton (22 disposals) also prominent.

The Blues suffered a blow before the opening bounce with full-back Michael Jamison a late withdrawal with hamstring soreness. His absence allowed former Crow Darren Pfeiffer to make his AFL debut, but forced Brett Ratten to reshuffle his defensive assignments.

The coach decided on Jarrad Waite on Nick Riewoldt, Setanta O’hAilpin on Gehrig and Bret Thornton on Justin Koschitzke, but the St Kilda tall timber didn’t see much action early as the Blues got off to a flyer.

With Judd held to just two first-quarter possessions by Fisher, the Carlton midfielders were still first to the ball on most occasions with Murphy leading the charge, kicking the first goal and brilliantly setting up Shaun Hampson for the game’s second.

Second gamer Jake Edwards steered one through from 45 and, after a couple of misses from Koschitzke and Milne, Fevola slammed one home from 50 to give the Blues a 23-point lead in front of the stunned, 43,396-strong St Kilda home crowd.

But with the quarter-time break looming, the Saints struck back hard with goals to Gehrig and Gram slicing the margin to 11 points at the first change.

It was Carlton’s turn to spurn a few scoring opportunities as the second term progressed with a switched-on St Kilda taking full advantage with a blistering volley of five unanswered goals including two to ex-Cat Steven King.

Gehrig’s second finished the run which saw the Saints lead by 19 points 19 minutes in, but the Blues came again with goals to Fevola and Pfeiffer before Xavier Clarke kicked the last major of the half to send his side in with a 13-point lead.

The skills of both sides dropped off noticeably early in the third quarter, but the Saints were right back in control of the defensive aspect of their game and cut off Carlton’s avenues to goal.

Gehrig continued to show his retirement had been a touch premature with his third major, while Milne made up for his earlier miss with two typically opportunistic goals.

Xavier Clarke had enjoyed an excellent game and helped his side to a 35-point lead at the last change with his second.

The Blues had a mountain to climb if they were going to pull off a come-from behind win, but Gehrig’s fourth two minutes in slammed the door shut.

Ryan Houlihan answered for Carlton, but the Saints were not to be denied and piled on another six goals, including two to Riewoldt and Milne, to ice their second win of the season.

 ST KILDA       2.5  8.7  12.9  19.11 (125)
CARLTON      4.4  6.6  6.10  12.13  (85)

GOALS
St Kilda: Gehrig 4, Milne 4, X Clarke 3, King 2, Schneider 2, Riewoldt 2, Gram, Blake.
Carlton: Fevola 2, B Fisher 2, Betts, Houlihan, Bannister, Stevens, Murphy, Hampson, Edwards, Pfeiffer.

BEST
St Kilda: X Clarke, Gram, Hayes, Montagna, S Fisher, Ball, Milne, Gehrig.
Carlton: Thornton, Cloke, Murphy, Waite, Betts, B Fisher.

Umpires: Ellis, Head, Keating.
Official crowd: 43,396 at Telstra Dome.

Injuries:
Carlton: Jamison (hamstring tightness) replaced in selected side by Pfeiffer.
St Kilda: Nil.
Reports: Nil.

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