Western Bulldogs head coach Luke Beveridge says he is proud of the way his side adjusted in the final quarter of Sunday’s come-from-behind win against Carlton.

Trailing by as much as 27 points midway through the third term, the Bulldogs were able to swing momentum back in their favour late in the game to overrun the Blues by 16 points.

“In the second half, while we couldn’t quite narrow the gap, I thought we’d started off in the right vain to (eventually) bridge that gap,” Beveridge told media post-match.

“We were under a fair bit of pressure because Carlton definitely had us against the ropes.

“I think we just started to use ball a little bit better, the speed in our forward end started to tell, and we manufactured some goals we weren’t able to in the first half.

“It was a very gutsy win - credit to our boys for making the changes, and credit to everyone for keeping a level-head.”

Beveridge was full of praise for key forward Josh Bruce (five goals, 11 marks), who also spent some minutes in the ruck in the absence of Tim English and Stef Martin.

“Josh has been tremendous – I thought tonight he just stood under it, competed extremely hard and was obviously able to convert some of those crucial set shots as he has been able to all year,” Beveridge said.

“We asked him to play in the ruck tonight too – we’d asked a fair bit of ‘Sweety’ in his second game, so we needed Josh to pinch-hit.

“For him to have the juice – which is his nickname anyway – to play ruck and still go forward and kick goals like he did and take those marks, is just a great work ethic and commitment to the team.

“I thought he had an outstanding night.”