ESSENDON has denied North Melbourne great Ben Cunnington a fairytale farewell, with the Bombers surviving another major scare to hang on by nine points.

For the second Saturday in a row at Marvel Stadium, Essendon was made to work hard following last week's one-point escape over West Coast.

In a tight and tense game where neither team led by more than 15 points, the Bombers prevailed 13.8 (86) to 12.5 (77) to keep their finals hopes alive ahead of the last two rounds of the home and away season.

00:56

Rd 22 | Tsatas snaps cooly in the heat for special maiden major

Elijah Tsatas nails his first career goal with a timely classy finish.

North cut the lead to three points with three minutes remaining, but Archie Perkins calmly slotted the match-winner from 25 metres out for Essendon with 50 seconds to go.

The Bombers (11-10) will need to defeat Greater Western Sydney (away) and Collingwood (MCG) in the next fortnight to book a top-eight place.

Cunnington (24 disposals, 10 clearances) stepped up in the final quarter, snapping his second goal to reduce Essendon's lead to nine points.

North fought hard to try and get over the line for Cunnington, but Essendon had too much class with its season at stake.

Hard-running Bomber Nic Martin (three goals, 32 disposals) was clearly best on ground, while Kyle Langford continued his career-best season with an important three-goal performance.

00:47

Rd 22 | Bombers' cool and collected end-to-end play finishes with Martin class

Nic Martin threads through his second after Essendon takes on the corridor.

NORTH MELBOURNE          3.0     6.1      9.3      12.5 (77)
ESSENDON                           2.1     5.2     10.4     13.8 (86)

GOALS 
North Melbourne: Larkey 5, Stephenson 2, Cunnington 2, Simpkin, Ford, Davies-Uniacke
Essendon: Martin 3, Langford 3, Wright 2, Menzie 2, Tsatas, Perkins, Guelfi

BEST 
North Melbourne: Davies-Uniacke, Larkey, Cunnington, Thomas, Sheezel
Essendon: Martin, Parish, Langford, Tsatas, Redman, Hobbs

INJURIES 
North Melbourne: Simpkin (arm)
Essendon: Nil

LATE CHANGES
North Melbourne: Nil
Essendon: Will Snelling replaced in selected side by Kaine Baldwin

SUBSTITUTES 
North Melbourne: Charlie Lazzaro (replaced Jackson Archer at three-quarter time)
Essendon: Will Snelling (replaced Nick Bryan in fourth quarter) 

Crowd: 37,231 at Marvel Stadium