Western Bulldogs defender Alex Keath says he is his proud of the way the backline performed in Thursday night’s 11-point win over Sydney.

Despite losing versatile tall Zaine Cordy to concussion early, the Bulldogs conceded just one goal in the opening half, while keeping the Swans scoreless in the second term.

“We really wanted to work as a system (in defence) and I thought we did that pretty well for the majority of the night,” Keath said.

“Ryan Gardner did a fantastic job in making life hard for Buddy Franklin – he’s a special player who’s always probably going to kick a couple of special goals on any given night, but (Gardy) did a fantastic job.

“Losing Zaine to concussion was a bit of a setback - hopefully he’ll be okay – but the boys covered him really well.

“It gives us good confidence off the back of a good second half last week. It was a really important four points for us.”

Keath said he was relieved to slot just his third career goal late, in what ended up being a critical point in the game.

“The ball drop was pretty naughty, but I’m just very happy that it went through,” he said.

“Not much (goes through your head) in the moment. You just go through your routine and hope that it goes through.”