THE WESTERN Bulldogs have struck a psychological blow ahead of September, defeating likely fellow finalists North Melbourne by 14 points in a spiteful clash at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night. 

After conceding two unanswered goals in the opening 10 minutes of the game, the Bulldogs allowed North just five more majors for the night, transforming the encounter into the defensive grind they thrive on to set up a 9.7 (61) to 7.5 (47) win.

Five talking points: Western Bulldogs v North Melbourne

The Dogs' victory took them to sixth on the ladder – although they will fall back to seventh if West Coast defeats Fremantle on Sunday – and a game clear of eighth-placed North.

Luke Beveridge's men remain a mathematical chance of gate-crashing the top four over coming weeks, and performances like this can only help that cause.

Full match coverage and stats

With both teams more likely to finish in the bottom half of the eight, they could face off in an elimination final in a few weeks time. 

If that match-up transpires, the Bulldogs will take enormous confidence from the way they suffocated the Roos' ball movement on Saturday night. 

The Bulldogs forced North into hurried chains of handballs and short passes time and time again and regularly cut them off before Brad Scott's men could mount effective forward thrusts. 

With key midfielders Tom Liberatore (ankle), Mitch Wallis (leg) and Jack Macrae (hamstring) missing, Luke Dahlhaus (28 possessions), Lachie Hunter (21) and Marcus Bontempelli (19) ably picked up the on-ball slack for the Dogs.

Bontempelli might have expected some attention from North after calling out Lindsay Thomas for a crude tackle on Lachie Hunter in their earlier meeting this year.

He was roughed up before the first bounce and found himself in the middle of melees at quarter-time and half-time. 

Bontempelli wore the jumper punches and the bumps well, responding with a best-afield performance (15 kicks, nine tackles and a goal) in a strong team performance to snap a two-game losing streak.

Jason Johannisen (22 possessions) gave the Dogs plenty of drive from defence, while Matthew Boyd and Easton Wood resembled a two-man blockade across half-back at times.

Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge was proud of his team's effort. 

"They were enormous tonight or boys, probably up against the odds and unexpected from the public at large," Beveridge said at his post-match press conference.

"But they showed a lot of heart and it was a great defensive effort to keep North Melbourne to that score. 

"Again, we get 60 entries and probably burnt some opportunities we'd like to take, but we had 22 really solid contributors."

The Roos' night was further soured by a knee injury to Ben Brown that ended the key forward's night early in the second quarter and, on top of Jarrad Waite's absence through injury, left North light on for aerial presence inside its forward 50.

Jed Anderson was also reported for bumping Lin Jong early in the second quarter. The Roos small forward caught the Bulldog midfielder high as he had his head over the ball, however the contact did appear overly forceful. 

North coach Brad Scott said Saturday night's "dour" match had been "a mirror image" of the Roos' 16-point round six win over the Bulldogs, just with a different result. 

"It was disappointing. I think probably the story of the night for us is when you dominate parts of the game, disposals, but don't score and get scored against then clearly you're doing something wrong," Scott said. 

"And we just over-possessed the ball under pressure and to their credit they pressured really well and even though their pressure was really good we invited it and continued to invite it and continued to invited it, and just had really good looks forward but we didn't take them. 

"So they outplayed us in transition, even though we probably outplayed them in parts of the game.

"On balance, they deserved their victory tonight."

Jamie Macmillan (30 possessions) was one of North's best players in his 100th game, Daniel Wells (26 and one goal) tried more than anyone to break through the Dogs' defences and Todd Goldstein (19 possessions, 35 hit-outs and one goal) comfortably won his ruck contest against Jordan Roughead. 

North started well enough, kicking the first two goals of the game, through Brown and Brent Harvey, and led by as much as 12 points late in the first term.

The Dogs missed their first three set shots at goal and did not record their first major until the 25-minute mark of the first quarter, when Tory Dickson coolly converted from 40m out to cut North's lead to four points at the first break.

The Bulldogs dominated the second term, piling on three unanswered goals to go into half-time with a 13-point break.

The Roos struggled to move the ball with any fluency in the second quarter as the Bulldogs put a defensive choker hold on them, regularly forcing them into errant handballs and misdirected short passes. 

MEDICAL ROOM
Western Bulldogs: Clay Smith was concussed in a tackle by Aaron Mullett in the first term and did not take any further part in the game. Smith's head appeared to be driven into the turf in the momentum of the tackle. Lin Jong copped a heavy knock in a marking contest late in the third term and hobbled gingerly to the bench, but returned to the field in the final term.

North Melbourne: Ben Brown hobbled from the field with a knee injury early in the second quarter and despite some treatment on the boundary and North's rooms did not return to the ground. Scott Thompson left the field in the last quarter with an apparent leg injury and did not play any further part in the game.

NEXT UP
The Bulldogs have a six-day break before they host Collingwood at Etihad Stadium next Friday night, and will enter the clash having won their past three games against the Magpies. The Roos play Hawthorn at the MCG next Saturday. North and the Hawks have played at the MCG just three times since 2006, with the reigning premiers winning the most recent clash in 2013.

Liam Picken makes his point as tempers fray at Etihad Stadium. Picture: Adam Trafford, AFL Photos

WESTERN BULLDOGS     1.4   4.5   7.7   9.7 (61)
NORTH MELBOURNE       2.2   2.4   4.5   7.5 (47)

GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Dickson, Daniel, Bontempelli, Hrovat, Johannisen, Hunter, Cordy, Roughead, Stringer
North Melbourne: Brown, Harvey, Daw, Thomas, Wells, Ziebell, Goldstein 

BEST 
Western Bulldogs: Bontempelli, M. Boyd, Daniel, Johannisen, Dahlhaus, Morris, Hunter
North Melbourne: Macmillan, Wells, Goldstein, Cunnington, Dal Santo, Thompson 

INJURIES 
Western Bulldogs: Smith (concussion)
North Melbourne: Brown (knee), Clarke (shoulder), Thompson (groin) 

Reports: Jed Anderson (North Melbourne) reported for rough conduct on Lin Jong (Western Bulldogs) in the second quarter. 

Umpires: Nicholls, Ryan, Mollison

Official crowd: 30,740 at Etihad Stadium