The Bulldogs survived a late scare to topple Mentone 3-1 in a hard-fought elimination final at the State Hockey Centre on Sunday morning.

It was a tumultuous final 15minutes for the Bulldogs.

Holding a two-goal advantage, poor discipline threatened to bring them undone.

Yellow cards to Haydn Shaw, for not retreating five metres at a set play, and Greg Robertson, for a high stick, forced the Bulldogs to play two men short for five crucial minutes.

The Doggies' glue-like defence kept the lead intact.

"It's very hard to play with nine men," striker Tom Griffin said.

"Mentone were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at us. Our defence was unbelievable in that time."

The hero for the Bulldogs was goalkeeper Peter Cleave.

The acrobatic custodian made a string of important saves to deny Mentone. Defenders Tom Edgar, Nigel Toussaint, Javier Telechea, Ryan Hopkins, Peter Griffin and Robertson also played a massive part.

Their heroics on the last line were enough to deny any semblance of a comeback.

"The goalkeeper kept us in the game at times," Griffin said.

"Cleavy and the defence was unbelievable."

The Bulldogs opened the game full of dash and attack, but their spirits were dampened when Mentone striker Lum Chau found a way past Cleave for the go-ahead goal.

The Bulldogs' incessant attacking finally yielded a dividend with 15 minutes to play in the first half.

They took the lead five minutes into the second half and sewed it up when Scott Shaw scored to make it 3-1.

The Bulldogs face a stern test in the preliminary final against second-ranked Southern United.

The winner will advance to the grand final and earn automatic promotion to state league 1.

SCOREBOARD: Footscray 3 d Mentone 1.