Saturday June 20 - Royal Park
Crowd - 5000
Carlton 1
Melbourne 0 (half time 1-0)
Carlton win by 1 goal
Melbourne won the toss and kicked to the end with a slight wind advantage in the first quarter, but conceded the only goal of the game after five minutes. The visitors weren't moving the ball as well as Carlton, and it hindered their chances of creating goalscoring opportunities. If anything, the wind played against them when Cumming saw a shot miss due to the breeze. The Reds had further chances but couldn't equalise before time was called for the half.
The visitors had no more than half opportunities against a well-defended Carlton goal, and the Blues play began to become ragged as they tired. They were fortunate that with 20 minutes to play a scuffle caused spectators to run on the field, and it took 10 minutes to clear them. In the dying seconds the ball was rushed to Carlton's goal where Billy Kneen marked. He missed after time was called and Carlton won.
Ben Goldsmith, Charles Carr and Forrester were best.
Media
Australasian - 27/06/1874
Illustrated Australian News - 13/07/1874