Carlton have kept themselves firmly in the AFL finals hunt as a fast-finishing North Melbourne found a new way to suffer a cruel loss in a thriller at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

The Kangaroos, so often victims of opposition clubs’ comebacks this season, almost pulled off one of their own, storming home from 35 points down to lose 16.13 (109) to 16.12 (108).

They had their chances, with veteran Brent Harvey, who fought hard to almost pull his side over the line, just failing to grasp a bouncing ball under extreme pressure about 20m out from goal inside the last minute.

It was North’s second one-point defeat this season and fifth by less than a goal, although in all of the others they had been in control at some point before being over-run.

It was Carlton’s first win by a single-figure margin this season, having had three such close defeats.

The Blues moved to an 8-8 record, equal to Port Adelaide – who started the round in eighth spot and face St Kilda on Saturday night – while the Kangaroos fell to 6-10 and are all but out of the finals race.

Jeff Garlett kicked four goal for Carlton, while Lindsay Thomas booted six for North and Drew Petrie kicked four, including three in a huge last term.

The Kangaroos looked the better side early, but suffered for some early inaccuracy, with Carlton kicking 6.0 to 5.5 in the first quarter, then pushing their lead to six points by halftime.

The Blues looked to have broken the game open when indigenous small forward trio Garlett, Eddie Betts (two goals) and Jeff Garlett (two) combined for four goals in a six-minute third quarter burst to help stretch the lead to 35.

But North, whose mental strength and leadership had been heavily questioned after their latest fade-out loss against Brisbane last round, showed enormous heart.

They kicked the last two goals of the third quarter and six goals to two in the last, with Petrie putting them within a point at almost the 28-minute mark but the Roos never quite drew level.

Midfielder Kade Simpson had a strong game for Carlton, particularly his last term, while Matthew Kreuzer also had a big last quarter, taking some telling marks, including one at halfback with 15 seconds left.