Coach Brenton Sanderson has lamented Adelaide’s composure under pressure following the Club’s 22-point loss to Fremantle at Patersons Stadium on Saturday night.

The Crows held the Dockers to 33 inside 50ms - the equal-lowest of any winning team since the statistic has been measured. But not for the first time this season, the visitors struggled to capitalize, kicking 3.8 from set shots from 45 forward entries and turning the ball over under Freo’s immense pressure at critical stages.

Sanderson said, not disparagingly, that Fremantle shouldn’t have been able to win the game “with 33 inside-50s."

"We won every major indicator but the most important one, which is winning the game of footy," he said.

"You know we won contested ball, we won inside-50s, we won tackles, we won clearances - we just couldn't convert when it mattered and we made some fundamental errors under pressure which is something we have got to get better at.

"Three goals eight from set shots is not going to win you footy games."

Adelaide is at long odds to reach the finals this season, falling to a 7-10 record with five rounds remaining.

However, Sanderson remained upbeat with Balfours Showdown XXXV coming up.

"I was proud of the kids. They had an absolute crack tonight and were really good for most of the game, but at critical times we made some errors which we shouldn't have when we had the footy and we gifted them a couple of goals," Sanderson said

"They (Freo) are efficient when they go in and had a lot of shots when they went inside 50. They are unconventional inside 50ms, they get you out the back so they got a lot of walk-in goals from our poor defensive structure."

Midfielder Rory Sloane agreed it was one that got away and praised the younger Crows who performed well in a high-pressure game.

"They squeeze you so tight it is really hard to score against them," Sloane said.

"They (the youngsters) know that feeling when we should have won a game but we didn't quite."