Coach Ken Hinkley has hailed Port Adelaide's fight after they pulled off a 45-point turnaround against Carlton to leap into third on the AFL ladder.
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Port were almost left to rue a failure to seize their opportunity as a run of six unanswered Carlton goals in the second term put the Blues firmly in control with a 31-point lead.
But the Power fought back in style, as Carlton faded off a five-day break, to claim a gritty 11.13 (79) to 9.11 (65) victory at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
"We played a really unusual game in that second quarter and Carlton were good enough to put a massive scoreboard pressure on us and outside of that we controlled a lot of things, particularly the second half," Hinkley said.
"Proud of our boys for the way they played the second half - we had to play tough and I thought we played against a really, really tough team.
"And maybe in the second half, maybe we just got our noses in front in the tough contest."
Port Adelaide (48 points) sit behind the second-placed Blues on percentage alone after this boost to their top-four hopes.
The chasing pack of Brisbane, Fremantle (both 46 points), GWS and Geelong (44 points) are yet to play this weekend.
Carlton, already without injured duo Tom De Koning and Blake Acres, suffered a blow before the opening bounce when key forward Harry McKay withdrew with illness.
McKay had been a focus during the week, having been cleared of concussion after a head knock against North Melbourne, but with the Blues reprimanded by the AFL for their delay in taking him off the ground.
His late withdrawal on Friday left Curnow as Carlton's lone key forward, and the superstar had an engaging duel with Aliir Aliir.
Curnow kicked three goals in the first half as he threatened to break the game open but, like many of his team-mates, his influenced waned in in the second half.
"It was probably some of the better footy that we've played this year I thought, for a half," coach Michael Voss said.
"So didn't necessarily see that coming, that's for sure, the second half, but didn't feel like we had the energy for the entirety of the game.
"And they dialled up a couple of things and we weren't able to absorb it."
Ollie Wines (26 disposals and 10 clearances) and Connor Rozee (24 disposals) were busy while Zak Butters (23 touches) was blanketed by Alex Cincotta early but lifted along with Jason Horne-Francis.
Blues Sam Walsh (23 touches), Patrick Cripps (25 touches, nine tackles) and Elijah Hollands (20 disposals) were busy while Jacob Weitering kept Charlie Dixon quiet.
Luckless midfielder David Cuningham was forced out of the game with a dislocated shoulder.
Port Adelaide led by four points at quarter-time before Carlton wrenched the game in their favour, leading by 25 at the main break.
Port huffed and puffed in the third term, snagging two late goals to reduce the deficit to 10 points at the final change.
They then booted the only four goals of the final term to seal their comeback.
Port next host Sydney while Carlton play Collingwood.
Australian Associated Press
