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<\/p>\n
Arty Jones tiptoed the boundary line in the pocket before dishing to Gallagher, who put a banana through for the all-important minor score. Will Lewis also kicked a behind after the siren to cap the two-point triumph. <\/p>\n
The Bulldogs kicked four of the game\u2019s first five goals and absolutely dominated the territory battle in the process, recording 19 inside-50s to Port Adelaide\u2019s seven in the first term. <\/p>\n
It was an incredible development, seeing as the Power entered as the best team in the competition for limiting opposition forward entries. <\/p>\n
The Bulldogs finished with a whopping 24 more forward entries than the Power, who kicked the last two goals of the game to send a scare through the visitors, who, it must be said, were the better side. <\/p>\n
Dogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli led from the front admirably, totalling 30 disposals, seven score involvements, seven clearances, five intercepts and a goal to be best-on-ground. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey did (make us earn it) and we knew that \u2014 they\u2019ve challenged and beaten some really good teams of late,\u201d Bontempelli told Fox Footy post-match.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kept trying to work our way through our own issues, but in the second half, we were just average with ball in hand, and we could\u2019ve made more of our opportunities in the third quarter. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what happens, you just put yourselves under pressure, and it did feel like we were going to have to find a way. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe got a point just to get in front at just the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018LEGACY GROWS BY THE WEEK\u2019: BONT, DOGS STRIP PORT OF STRENGTHS<\/p>\n
Port Adelaide entered Round 9 as the best team in the competition for preventing opposition inside-50s, but the Bulldogs absolutely dominated the territory battle on Friday night. <\/p>\n
The Dogs recorded 19 inside-50s to Port Adelaide\u2019s seven in the first term, kicking four of the game\u2019s first five goals. <\/p>\n
They finished +24 for forward entries in a domination, even though their inefficiency with those opportunities almost cost them two premiership points. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been up and about, right from the start,\u201d Adelaide great Mark Ricciuto said on Fox Footy. <\/p>\n
The Bulldogs\u2019 punishment of Port Adelaide\u2019s turnovers, as well as their territory dominance, paved the way as they took an early advantage – one that they didn\u2019t relinquish. <\/p>\n
Former Hawks sharpshooter Ben Dixon said at half-time: \u201cThe pressure has been enormous, we\u2019ve been judging that all night \u2014 they\u2019ve come to play. They\u2019ve got some personnel, but you can turn the pressure up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dogs scored 5.2 from turnovers in the first half, compared to Port\u2019s 1.2, and Marcus Bontempelli was in basically everything, having an instrumental impact at clearance and also getting on the scoreboard. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just so composed; he knows what he\u2019s doing before he gets the ball,\u201d Ricciuto said post-game. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was awesome again tonight \u2026 he\u2019s just an on-field coach, makes them calm out there and steers the ship. <\/p>\n
\u201cDid so many good things with ball in hand tonight – his kicking was elite.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaun Burgoyne added: \u201cFor the leader to show that composure out there, his legacy grows by the week.\u201d<\/p>\n
The champion midfielder finished his night with 30 disposals, seven score involvements, seven clearances, five intercepts and a goal. <\/p>\n
\u2018HE\u2019S DONE\u2019: STAR STRUCK DOWN IN POWER BLOW<\/p>\n
Port Adelaide played a man down in the second half, with important defender Miles Bergman ruled out of the contest with a toe injury. <\/p>\n
Bergman was in the wars in the opening quarter and had to be tended to by medical staff at quarter-time, gesturing to his right foot. <\/p>\n
He came back on, playing into the second term before coming back off the ground, appearing to be in some distress. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just come off hobbling – and he\u2019s absolutely filthy – so I\u2019m not sure what\u2019s going on there,\u201d former Hawks sharpshooter Ben Dixon said from the boundary. <\/p>\n
Mark Ricciuto added on Fox Footy: \u201cHe needs to be 100 per cent, Bergman, I reckon, otherwise he doesn\u2019t play that well.\u201d<\/p>\n
And by half-time, it was revealed that Bergman would take no further part in the game, with senior coach Carr telling Fox Footy at half-time: \u201cHe\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople (hearing that) Bergman\u2019s been out with a big toe and going \u2018that\u2019s a bit soft\u2019, but it\u2019s amazing how sore and important toes are,\u201d Ricciuto said. <\/p>\n
Bergman hadn\u2019t cracked 20 disposals in six games this year before notching 23 and 11 marks in last Saturday\u2019s Showdown. <\/p>\n
Re-live Dogs-Power in the blog below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Western Bulldogs have withstood a late Port Adelaide charge to dramatically snap a four-game losing streak. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[395,23,133,8944,368,564,8940,8941,3945,120,524,8943,8945,8942,8939,121,68,3048],"class_list":{"0":"post-7567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-adelaide","8":"tag-adelaide","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","11":"tag-ballarat","12":"tag-getty-images-inc","13":"tag-jack-jovanovski","14":"tag-lachie-jones","15":"tag-lingering-knee-pain","16":"tag-live-updates","17":"tag-oceania","18":"tag-port-adelaide","19":"tag-port-adelaide-power","20":"tag-power-plot","21":"tag-rhylee-west","22":"tag-solid-form-patch","23":"tag-south-australia","24":"tag-victoria","25":"tag-western-bulldogs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}