Adelaide has overcome a wasteful style of play, inaccurate kicking for goal and Carlton's flooding tactics to win an untidy scrap by 14 points in perfect conditions at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.

The Crows won 9.17 (71) to 8.9 (57), much to the relief of the parochial crowd of 43,277 which became frustrated with the home team's over-use of the ball and frequent skill errors.

The Blues kicked the first three goals of the match and led 3.1 to 0.2 at the 10-minute mark before the Crows recovered to trail by just seven points at quarter-time.

Adelaide had 28 inside-50 entries to Carlton's 16 in the first half but took only a one-point lead into the third quarter - 5.11 to 6.4 - and a two-point advantage into the last quarter after the Crows added only 1.4 to the Blues' 1.3.

The Crows struggled to establish their customary run from defence, went wide too often and the Blues flooded their backline, where they benefited from having Digby Morrell playing as a loose man in the second quarter.

Nick Stevens, Matthew Lappin, Scott Camporeale and Anthony Koutoufides provided much of Carlton's run and direction, and full-forward Brendan Fevola was a powerful focal point with four goals - one in each quarter.

Fevola's fourth goal gave the Blues a five-point lead four-and-a-half minutes into the last quarter but Scott Welsh's first goal put Adelaide a point clear at the 10-minute mark.

Scott Thompson missed a relatively easy shot - not for the first time - but Welsh goaled again, this time from the acutest of angles deep in the left forward pocket, and the Crows led by eight points with eight minutes remaining.

Fevola scored a behind and Ken McGregor did the same for Adelaide before Welsh chipped a pass to McGregor, who goaled from about 35 metres out, straight in front, and the Crows were 14 points up with four minutes to play - and it was all over, with the term 'winning ugly' being mentioned repeatedly.

Inspired regularly by Simon Goodwin, Adelaide outscored Carlton 4.6 to 2.5 in the second half.

Adelaide coach Neil Craig described it as 'an outstanding win'.

"It was an important game for us for where we want to go," he said. "It was an important game for Carlton, with their recent form.

"Two weeks ago (against the Brisbane Lions) we lost (by nine points) a game similar to that, so we pull a lot of positives out of it in terms of the way we went about it.

"What we learned was our ability to stay a bit calmer, to understand the game was never going to be won by five or six goals, and the thing that would really give us a chance to win by five or six goals was for us to put one or two clean plays together to get into our forward line with the numbers that were back there. I thought we did that really well in the end.

"When we do get caught out with numbers back and we're close to our forward 50, we've just got to get better at being able to shift their defence."

When it was put to Craig that it was an 'ugly win' (given the flooding), he said: "Well, it looks like you're going to have a few of those throughout the season."

Carlton coach Denis Pagan said the Blues had been competitive but 'did not have enough good players going when it mattered most'.

"Some of our leaders were sensational but we needed a few of the young blokes to chip in, and just a couple of blokes had real off days, which, at the end of the day, was really costly," he said.

"We had chances but we just couldn't nail them, and I can tell you it was a hell of a lot better contest than what it has been in the last three weeks."

ADELAIDE: 2.6, 5.11, 6.15, 9.17 (71)
CARLTON: 4.1, 6.4, 7.7, 8.9 (57)
GOALS – Adelaide: Bock 2, Welsh 2, Shirley, Hart, Edwards, Reilly, McGregor Carlton: Fevola 4, Whitnall, Koutoufides, Stevens, Lappin
BEST – Adelaide: Goodwin, Shirley, Ricciuto, Doughty, Skipworth, Burton, Rutten, Bock, Bassett Carlton: Lappin, Stevens, Camporeale, Morrell, Fevola, Koutoufides, Thornton
INJURIES - Adelaide: Nil Carlton: Nil
CHANGES - Carlton: French replaced in the selected side by Prendergast
REPORTS: Nil
UMPIRES - McBurney, Grun, Hendrie
CROWD - 43,277 at AAMI Stadium