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Carlton have scored their third win in five games under caretaker coach David Teague, beating Sydney by seven points in a low scoring AFL clash at the SCG.
Carlton's caretaker coach David Teague is loving the ride, the Blues' AFL revival continuing with a seven-point win over Sydney at a windswept SCG.
The visitors had a 19-point final-quarter lead on Saturday slashed to seven, but held on to record a 9.15 (69) to 8.14 (62) victory, their third in five games under Teague.
The Blues won the midfield battle, accumulating 13 more clearances and 19 additional contested possessions.
They had superior marking targets up forward in Levi Casboult and Harry McKay. The loss surely ends Sydney's hopes of a spot in the finals.
"I' just loving the ride at the moment," Teague said.
"I'm learning a lot about the playing group and about myself as well as a coach."
Carlton played one man down in the second half after former Saint Hugh Goddard had his Blues senior debut cut short by an accidental elbow from Nick Blakey, which appears to have fractured a cheekbone.
It was Carlton's first win at the ground since 2011, after six-consecutive losses and just their second victory over the Swans in 12 contests.
"I didn't know about the lack of success (at the SCG). Before the game, a journalist asked me and I said 'I hope the players don't know that'," Teague said.
"The way we played was super impressive; Sydney are a very strong team particularly round the contest."
Former Swan Nic Newman showed plenty of poise and distributed well in difficult conditions, tallying a match-high 32 possessions.
Marc Murphy, Ed Curnow, Sam Walsh and Patrick Cripps all won plenty of ball and Teague praised backs Liam Jones and Lachie Plowman for their efforts in lifting after Goddard was injured.
Teague was pleased with an improved tackling effort and praised his players' discipline and work rate.
He said he wasn't fazed by Carlton director Chris Judd's comment earlier in the week that the Blues were looking for an experienced coach.
'I'm loving my job at the moment and I've got a job to do and I've got to keep doing it," Teague said.
The Blues scored the first eight points of the game and trailed just once in the game by a point in the first quarter.
A strong swirling breeze with winds gusting up to 40km/h made kicking accuracy difficult, with Sydney scoring 3.10 by the main break.
Carlton notched eight-successive behinds either side of halftime, with three-straight Sydney goals cutting the gap to a point.
Successive majors to Casboult and Jack Silvagni early in the last quarter set up a 19-point buffer and, although Sydney rallied, they were unable to get within a goal.
Sydney coach John Longmire, who signed a three-year contract extension on Friday, said his side mucked up scoring opportunities with skill errors and were well beaten around the football.
"You've got to win the footy around the source and we weren't able to do that consistently enough and the flow-on effect of that meant that we were always chasing our tail," Longmire said.
"Carlton played well ... they were hard; they were fierce."