STANTHORPE United colts won their seventh grand final out of eight attempts after a hard fought 1-0 win over Carlton at CF White at the weekend.

United put six past the Carlton side in the major semi final, but this was a much tighter affair.

United's Alex Bell and Brendan Butler worked tirelessly to support the limited attacking opportunities while also getting back to help the defence.

Carlton created several good opportunities but were shut down by man of the match Ernie Hernandez and captain George Merritt in the centre of the defence.

United Keeper Matt Swinburne was called into action on a number of occasions and had to use every bit of his height to block shots heading to the top corners of the goal and dangerous corner kicks.

United opened the scoring late in the second half, a sublime pass from Brendan Butler was met by a well-timed run by Dan Cridland who committed the keeper before putting the ball into an empty net to give United a 1-0 half time lead.

United were lucky to be leading at the break and knew plenty of work was still to be done to seal the win as the breeze would be behind them in the second half.

Carlton came out firing in the second half and had United on the back for extended periods - positional changes from Carlton saw them have a more potent attack.

The game was typical finals football with end to end excitement, plenty of shots, saves and played in a hard but fair manner.

Best players for Carlton were Dylan Antonello, Charlie Boullier and Ryan Fitzgerald - the Carlton side can hold their heads high, they gave everything and only just fell short against a magical United team that won every one of their games this season.