CARLTON coach David Teague had confidence fifth-gamer Matthew Cottrell was going to nail the match-winning goal in the last two minutes against Sydney.

Despite a relatively quiet night before that, Cottrell sprung up for a strong mark and "took his moment."

"I have to admit I felt pretty comfortable with him taking the shot," Teague said of Cottrell post-match. 

"He's a beautiful kick, to be honest the mark was probably the impressive bit."

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The Blues are still in with a sniff of finals after the win and shock losses by GWS and Melbourne, but Teague is more concerned about getting the connection between his midfield and forward line right at the moment.

"That's where we're going as a football club, we're going to go to the finals at some stage but right now it's about addressing our areas of growth," Teague said.

Star recruit Jack Martin finished the game on the bench with another calf issue, but there's no certainty about the extent of his injury yet. 

"He's hurt a calf, I don't know whether it was a corkie or a calf but he was moving around alright in there," Teague said.

Sydney coach John Longmire was critical of his side's efforts after giving up a 39-point lead.

"We didn't work hard in the second half," Longmire said.

"The opposition is not going to give you the game and wrap it up in a bow and present it to you, you've got to take it from them and we need to make sure we understand that."

Second-year player Nick Blakey copped several hits to the shoulder, but Longmire was not able to shed any light on the extent of the injury.

"He'll (Blakey) be a bit sore, we've come off a five-day break this week and we play again Sunday."