PORT Melbourne is through to the VFLW Preliminary Final after a nerve-wracking one point win over Carlton in yesterday’s Semi Final.

It truly was a match of two halves as the Borough fought back from a poor first half showing to really take control in the second half while also fighting off a determined Carlton side.

Carlton was quick out of the blocks in the opening term, with Christina Bernardi kicking the first goal of the game inside the first minute of the game.

The heroes for the Blues from last week in Bernardi and Amelia Klingbeil were lively early as the ball lived in Carlton’s forward half for much of the opening half of the term.

Despite dominating the territory game Carlton struggled to get many shots away due to the congested nature of the play.

Bernardi’s goal proved to ultimately be the only one of the term, as Carlton took a nine point lead into the first change and managed to keep Port Melbourne scoreless in the first quarter.

Port Melbourne certainly had its chances inside 50 early in the second term, but as the tackle from Gena Lawson-Tavan on Chanelle Slater represented, they were unable to make the most of their chances.

Carlton for its part were unable to truly make the Borough pay though with inaccurate kicking in front of goal really hurting them.

The Blues however were getting a lot of numbers to the ball all over the ground which really made life tough for the home side.

Scoring however dried up as the ball spent much of the middle part of the quarter between the arcs.

Port Melbourne did finally hit the scoreboard in the final few minutes of the quarter thanks to a Georgia Alomes snap, and suddenly some life seemed to have been injected into Port Melbourne.

With Alomes’ goal, Port Melbourne was only four points down at half time and the Borough certainly had the ascendency at the major break.

The third quarter was certainly one of seesawing momentum.

Port Melbourne got off to the perfect start in the third term with a second goal to Alomes, and the comeback took the next step as the Borough took the lead.

It took a few minutes, but Carlton did counter with a goal of its own from Eliza Wood, and the lead was back in Carlton’s hands and the match was far from decided.

The momentum continued to seesaw and after Courteney Bromage kicked a goal Port retook the lead.

Emily Hurley then countered with a goal of her own for Carlton and with a few minutes left the lead was back to Carlton.

In the end Carlton’s lead was a mere single point at three quarter time, and it truly was all to play for in the last term.

It was Port who got the forward 50 time quickly in the last term, and with two early behinds Port retook the lead inside the opening four minutes of the term.

Port Melbourne’s defensive pressure across the ground really lifted in the last term which left Carlton really on the back foot.

After plenty of peppering of their goals, Port finally got the first goal of the final term thanks to Isabella Stutt, and Port were really starting to cement their control of the game.

Carlton finally got the ball out of its defensive 50 and with a goal to Klingbeil the margin was back down to only two points.

With Laura Wright’s first goal, the teams continued to trade goals but Port Melbourne’s lead and cushioning barrier grew.

Carlton was far from done though, as Klingbeil kicked her second goal to take the margin back down to two points.

As the seconds ticked down things remained tight and with another behind to Bernardi, the scoreboard got even tighter.

The last few minutes of the game saw stoppage after stoppage along the wing as the nerves lifted in the atmosphere.

Ultimately, Carlton ran out of time to score that extra point, falling agonisingly short.