THE WESTERN Bulldogs were given a huge scare by Collingwood on Sunday, but survived to post a thrilling 10-point win at Telstra Dome.

The Pies will rue some missed opportunities that should have seen them with a bigger lead at the main break, but the Dogs mounted a second-half charge that propelled them to the 15.9 (99) to 13.11 (89) win.

The Bulldogs overcame a 23-point deficit in the third quarter to lead by 19 points in the final term, but had to withstand a spirited fightback from Collingwood that saw Dane Swan goal with just over five minutes left to play to make the margin just six points.

That was the last major of the day, however, as the Dogs held on to record their 11th win of the season.

Collingwood played most of the second half with two players down after Anthony Rocca, who came in late for Shane Wakelin, and Ben Reid both succumbed to injury.

Daniel Cross (29 possessions), Lindsay Gilbee (29) and Matthew Boyd (26) were key players for the Bulldogs while Adam Cooney (27) was also influential in his 100th game.

Mitch Hahn was outstanding across half-forward and kicked three goals when the heat was really on his side, with Robert Murphy also booting three majors.

Heath Shaw was excellent for the Magpies and did a good job on skipper Brad Johnson while gathering 31 disposals. Ben Johnson was awarded the Bob Rose/Charlie Sutton Medal for his job on Jason Akermanis.

With one-on-one match-ups across the ground, neither side moved the ball with any fluency in the first term and scoring opportunities were hard to come by.

Murphy was matched up on Harry O’Brien early and the classy Bulldog gave him the slip to snap the first goal of the match three minutes into an opening quarter that was fought out largely between the 50m arcs.

The Dogs came with a flurry late, with Ryan Griffen giving his side the lead with a brilliantly roved goal to make the quarter-time margin five points.

The Pies scored the first two goals of the second quarter as they got on top around the stoppages, but they failed to capitalise on their superiority. Tarkyn Lockyer and Rhyce Shaw were the main offenders with three behinds each, but when Shaw did get his radar working midway through the term, he pushed the margin out to 16 points.

A couple of goals to Hahn stemmed the flow, but a major to Chris Bryan after the half-time siren made it a 10-point ball game.

Johnson had been well-held by Shaw and, despite managing his first goal of the day at the resumption of play, the situation soon looked grim for Rodney Eade’s men.

A quick burst of three goals, including two to Paul Medhurst, put the Pies 23 points up, but if there’s one thing the Dogs are good at, it's scoring quickly, and they finished the quarter with a withering salvo of their own.

A goal to Akermanis started the run and the manner in which the Dogs were able to manufacture it was telling. Ryan Hargrave started the scoring movement from deep in the back pocket with the ball passing quickly through three players by foot before Aker stroked it home from 50.

Welsh chimed in with two and when Will Minson goaled in the shadows of three-quarter time, the Bulldogs led by two points to set up the thrilling finale.

Collingwood               1.3       6.8       11.9     13.11 (89)
Western Bulldogs      2.2       5.4       12.5     15.9 (99)

GOALS
Collingwood: Medhurst 2, Swan 2, Burns 2, Wood 2, R. Shaw, Bryan, Rocca, Pendlebury, Lockyer
Western Bulldogs: Hahn 3, Murphy 3, Welsh 2, Johnson 2, Griffen, Eagleton, Akermanis, Gilbee, Minson

BEST
Collingwood: Johnson, H. Shaw, Pendlebury, R. Shaw, Burns, Maxwell, Clarke
Western Bulldogs: Gilbee, Cross, Cooney, Giansiracusa, Murphy, Morris, Johnson

INJURIES
Collingwood: Reid (foot), Rocca (ankle)
Western Bulldogs: Williams (shoulder)

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the club