Carlton coach Michael Voss refused to concede his side’s late-game fadeout was due to mental demons in its 10-point loss to North Melbourne on Good Friday.

Despite taking a game-high 22-point lead into the three-quarter-time break at Marvel Stadium, the Blues conceded the game’s last five goals to again falter late in the piece.

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It was Carlton’s “worst nightmare” less than a week after Melbourne stunned Carlton with a 66-point turnaround in Round 3.

The Blues were able to get first use at stoppage for a large portion of the afternoon, and increased its pressure in the second half in particular, but failure to “manage moments” at the most crucial junctures cost them, said Voss.

“Obviously, coming out of half-time, the challenge was laid bare for us to be able to step it up a gear,” Voss said in the post-match press conference.

“We certainly did that, our tackle rate was low (in the first half) — I think mainly because there were so many uncontested marks from both teams.

“But then to dial up the pressure in the third quarter and from that point on, I felt like — from quarter-time, to be fair — that looked like more of our game.

“But we have to manage minutes, and we have to manage moments. And we didn’t, and they were good enough to.”

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Despite Marc Pittonet’s ability to win in the middle against Callum Coleman-Jones with Tristan Xerri out, North stars Harry Sheezel, Luke Davies-Uniacke and George Wardlaw stepped it up around the footy.

“They got ascendancy around the ball, centre-square bounce, they got some good drive and territory, and that had us pegged back a little bit,” Voss said.

“So, it’s a really hard one to take, because six, seven minutes out from the finish, you’re still feeling like you’re in a really good position in the game.”

Voss was then asked if it’d become a mental thing for the players – being able to close out games – prompting the veteran mentor to pause for a few seconds.

He then said: “I didn’t suspect it was that way today.

“But (I) understand the query, probably in the last few weeks.

“But when you look at the group, and you get to know your group pretty well, you can see how engaged they are and the detail in their roles.

“Their intensity around the contest, ability to have composure in the game when it was needed, and I thought for large parts of the game there are a lot of gains to acknowledge in that area.

“But we also can’t walk past the fact that you’re not finishing games. So, our ability to ice that game was from a really strong position, and we weren’t able to do it. So, we’ve just got to own that and go to work on it.”

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Voss also said despite the fact that Jacob Weitering’s exit due to concussion “stressed our system”, “that wasn’t where the game was won and lost”.

“Some moments of composure would have helped us,” he said.

“So, to be able to take the sting out of the game and just be able to find when those points and moments are – when the crowd’s going crazy and you have to finish the game – so, lots of gains to be made.”

Demons icon Garry Lyon described Voss as “defiant” in his press conference, while four-time flag-winner Jordan Lewis predicted it’d be “hysteria” in the coming days after the Blues’ latest fadeout.

“He (Voss) always controls himself in the press conferences really well, but it’s the position that they didn’t want to find themselves in, and they’ve found themselves in it again,” Lewis said during Fox Footy’s post-match coverage.

“And at the moment, it just doesn’t seem like there’s any clear way out. That’s his job; that’s the job of the coaches and the football club.”

And things aren’t about to get any easier for the Blues, with Adelaide — without Weitering — Collingwood and Fremantle the upcoming fixtures.

“There are going to be some tough times ahead,” Geelong great Tom Hawkins said.