Carlton has gone down to Essendon by 16 points in a highly-entertaining encounter at the MCG on Saturday night despite a brilliant eight-goal haul from full-forward Brendan Fevola.

Fevola was in rare form at the Blues’ goal mouth, but the Bombers outscored Carlton six goals to three in the final term to record the 23.12 (150) to 21.8 (134) win.

The loss equals the longest losing sequence in the club’s history of 14 matches which ran over the 1901-1902 seasons.

Skipper Chris Judd played his best game for his new club with two goals to go with his 32 possessions, while Nick Stevens (26 touches) and Eddie Betts (27 disposals) were also important.

Matthew Kreuzer made an excellent start to his AFL career, kicking the first of his two goals with his first kick in league football, as well as gathering 16 possessions and 12 hitouts.

Mark McVeigh was the Bombers’ best with four goals and 26 disposals, while Matthew Lloyd finished with four goals after an engrossing duel with full-back Michael Jamison.

Essendon was on the scoreboard before the ball had even been bounced with Angus Monfries goaling after high contact from Heath Scotland, but it didn’t take the Blues long to work their way into a high-quality opening term.

The lead changed hands four times as the two sides took an open, attacking approach to the match with Fevola getting the better of his duel with Mal Michael, and booting two goals including a brilliant effort off the side of his boot to open his team’s account.

Betts was playing a little further up the ground than usual and benefited from the extra freedom, setting up several good passages of play and kicking a goal that took a fortuitous right-to-left bounce.

After starting the match at full-forward, Kreuzer relieved Cameron Cloke at the centre bounce late in the quarter and did well to find space up forward and kick his first goal in league footy after Betts found him with an incisive pass.

Monfries added his second to give the Dons an eight-point quarter-time lead and when Sam Lonergan kicked the first major of the second quarter, the Blues were in urgent need of a reply.

Stevens proved just the man for the moment with two goals inside a minute to slice the margin to just two points and when Kreuzer roved the pack for his second goal, Carlton was back in front.

But despite a nice goal from Jordan Bannister, the Bombers finished the half full of running with two goals to McVeigh helping his side to a 16-point lead at the main break.

The entertaining contest reached a new level in a breath-taking third quarter that saw a total of 15 goals kicked with five of those coming from a rampant Fevola.

Essendon looked set to break the game wide open, holding a the largest margin of the match at 17 points up eight minutes into the term, but two goals from Judd, his first majors in navy blue, sparked a Carlton revival.

Judd and Stevens were everywhere with Fevola finishing off their good work around the stoppages, but it was a long goal from Andrew Carrazzo that reclaimed the lead for the Blues.

Michael was moved off Fevola as the big spearhead slammed through three goals in a blistering seven-minute period, but just as in the second quarter, Carlton undid its good work by conceding the last two goals of the term to lead by just one point at the final change.

With the game there for the taking, the first goal was going to be crucial, but the Bombers took the wind out of the Blues’ sails with the first five of the last quarter. Powerless to arrest the onslaught, Carlton’s midfield drive dried up as Essendon skipped away to a 29-point lead.

Goals to Marc Murphy and Bryce Gibbs kept their side’s hopes alive, but when McVeigh’s fourth bounced through the contest was effectively over.

ESSENDON        6.4, 11.8, 17.11, 23.12 (150)
CARLTON           5.2, 9.4, 18.6, 21.8 (134)

GOALS
Essendon: Lloyd 4, McVeigh 4, Monfries 2, Lovett 2, Lonergan 2, Peverill, Davey, Ryder, Reimers, Ramanauskas, Laycock, Hille, McPhee, Houli
Carlton: Fevola 8, Stevens 2, Kreuzer 2, Judd 2, Fisher, Betts, Bannister, Hadley, Carrazzo, Murphy, Gibbs

BEST
Essendon: McVeigh, Fletcher, Lovett, Lloyd, Winderlich, Stanton
Carlton: Fevola, Judd, Stevens, Betts, Murphy, Houlihan

INJURIES
Essendon: Jetta (hamstring)
Carlton: TBA

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Kamolins, Ryan, Nicholls

Official crowd: 64,388 at the MCG

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