The Saints achieved a three-peat of premiership wins by narrowly accounting for Skipton by six points, 13.8 (86) to 11.14 (80), at Learmonth on Saturday.

Carngham-Linton now boasts fives LPFL flags: 2000-04-06-07-08.

Joint coach Jade Keam, who won his first premiership after two other attempts at Dimboola and Robinvale, said Carngham-Linton had an attitude that it was never out of a contest.

"I don't think we clicked until the last quarter," he said.

"We were playing a frustrating brand of football," he said.

Carngham-Linton did it the hard way, coming from behind at the last change.

Things looked grim at various times for the Saints, with Skipton leading at quarter-time and increasing the lead steadily to 16 points at the last break.

But an impressive five goals to one for Carngham-Linton saw it home to claim the prize.

The Saints booted the first two goals of the day before Skipton replied in kind to lead by four points at quarter-time.

But it should have been a greater margin, with wayward shots on goal scoring five behinds before the first goal to Kiernan Molloy.

The Emus continued their momentum, with five of the next six goals to lead by 28 points 24 minutes into the second term.

But a slip in concentration let Carngham-Linton right back in, with three goals in as many minutes narrowing the gap to nine points.

They could not continue the momentum though, the Emus seemingly with one hand on the cup fending off the Saints attacks.

The mindset of the Carngham-Linton players was not good at the last change, with many players saying after the game they thought they were gone.

Nine goalless minutes went by in the final term, with every minute passing a minute less the Saints had to bridge the gap.

But up stepped joint coach Justin Porter with two goals to gain the edge on a tiring Skipton.

Further goals to Robbie Greenbank (two) and Clint Ladiges had Carngham-Linton two goals up.

And when Greenbank booted a behind it looked over.

But Skipton increased its intensity, with Brendan Partridge kicking truly, and Matthew Hind getting the Emus to just a goal down.

Danny George had the final kick, but the siren sounded before any chance of a Skipton mark.

Porter said former coach Carngham-Linton's Robbie Waters had set the benchmark in his five years as coach.

"We were on a hiding to nothing at the start of the year, and the club would expect nothing less than a premiership, so I'm just glad we gave them one," Porter said.