Joint vice-captain Patrick Dangerfield says the Crows must make the most of their opportunities in front of goal after a wasteful display against Sydney.

Adelaide (26) only had only three fewer scoring shots than the Swans (29) on Saturday, but lost the game by a disappointing 63 points.

The Crows had eight scoring shots to Sydney’s three in the second quarter but only managed a return of 3.5. The Swans kicked three straight goals at the other end. Sydney kicked away with seven goals in the final term, while the home team recorded seven behinds. Adelaide’s scoring accuracy last round was 39.1 per cent – the worst of any team in Round Two. Sydney’s was the best at 80.8 per cent.

Dangerfield said the Crows needed to improve their efficiency inside 50m.

“There were quite a few key statistics that we actually won. We won the inside 50ms, we won the contested possessions, which had been an issue, and we won the uncontested possessions as well. But the continued scoreboard pressure is an area we weren’t good at on the weekend,” Dangerfield told FIVEaa.

“At the end of the day, that’s the most important statistic and most important pressure act you can put on the opposition – the scoreboard.”

Although Adelaide won the inside 50m count, Dangerfield lamented the quality of his team’s forward entries, which were often easily intercepted by the Swans defenders.

“We’ve got to break the 80-metre line of (the opposition’s) defence, carry the ball an extra 20 metres and then kick long to inside 30 metres from goal,” he said.

“We want to be attacking and try to play through the corridor with flair, but at the moment we’re making critical errors that are almost indefensible – in terms of where we’re making them on the ground. We’re turning it over across our half-forward line … and really that’s only one kick for the opposition to attack our last line of defence.

“It exposes your defenders.”

Despite having a number of opportunities to stop Sydney’s scoreboard onslaught in the last quarter, the Crows conceded seven unanswered goals.

Dangerfield dismissed Adelaide’s final-quarter fade-outs were related to fitness.

“We had a fantastic pre-season, but at the end of the day if you can’t hit your skills and you turn the ball over in critical areas it doesn’t matter how fit you are. If the opposition kicks the ball well, they’ll cut through you,” he said.

“For us, it’s about having composed possession in dangerous parts of the ground and we haven’t had that. We’ll turn the ball over in indefensible positions and that hasn’t allowed us to get set and pressure the opposition. We haven’t had the composure we’ve really needed.”

Dangerfield admitted the Club’s depth was being tested, with a number of first-choice players sidelined through injury.

The Crows lost Scott Thompson to a corked thigh in the first quarter on Saturday. Sam Kerridge (eye) was also forced from the ground in the third quarter, while Mitch Grigg (adductor) played out the game under duress.

Adelaide is confident the trio will recover in time for the clash with St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Sunday. Dangerfield said it was important the Club turned its attention towards the Saints, who impressed despite going down to West Coast at Subiaco on the weekend.

“If you look at our injury list at the moment, we’ve probably got 6-8 players out of our best 25 and that certainly does test you. At the same time, we’ve got players who need to come in and play a role,” Dangerfield said.

“It’s (0-3) certainly not the way we would’ve liked to start the season. It’s really disappointing. We’ll look at this game in review strongly, which we’ve done the previous two weeks, but we can’t have that attitude (that our season is over).

“We have to get over it pretty quickly. Feeling sorry for ourselves isn’t going to help anything.”