‘Simply, not good enough’ – that’s how Crow Andy Otten has described his team’s final-quarter performance against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium.

In an all-too familiar scenario this season, Adelaide established a handy lead only to be overrun by a fast-finishing opponent in the final quarter. On Sunday night, the Crows piled on six unanswered goals in an irresistible 12-minute period in the third quarter to streak to a 22-point lead.

The Bulldogs kicked the last two goals of the term to give themselves a sniff and reduce the margin to nine points at three-quarter time. Adelaide started okay in the last term, with early goals to Tom Lynch and Ian Callinan, who each finished the day with three goals, keeping the visitors in front.

But the Dogs grabbed the momentum halfway through the quarter, kicking five of the next six goals to storm to a 17-point. Six-goal hero Tory Dickson, who kicked three consecutive goals in the last term, was the chief destroyer.

Otten conceded Adelaide’s inability to stop the opposition scoring late in quarters (red-time) and in games was cause for concern.

“It’s an alarming stat. It’s disappointing. To be 22 points up … and for them to kick seven of the last nine goals, it really isn’t good enough. As a playing group, we put our hands up for that,” Otten told FIVEaa after the game.

“We put ourselves in another winning position … we’ve done that all year, but in the last quarter we just couldn’t get our hands on the ball to stop their run. We couldn’t get the ball out of the middle.

“They were outnumbering the contest and used handball to run it through. They were so clean with the ball. They were able to create a free player and hit targets without any pressure on them.

“We didn’t win enough key contests and too many of their forwards kicked too many goals.”

The Crows also went away from the game plan in the first quarter.

After conceding only 10 goals for the game against North Melbourne last weekend, Adelaide allowed the Western Bulldogs to kick 7.2 in the first quarter – their best opening term for two years.

Coach Brenton Sanderson was visibly angry during his quarter-time address to the players.

“Sando was upset we gave up seven goals (in the first quarter) for a start. We deserved that spray,” Otten said.

“At the start of the game, we said ‘we don’t want a shoot-out. We want to close them down and keep it as a contested style of game’, but we let them do what they want in that quarter. Our defenders were caught under the pump and we paid the price. We bounced back in the second quarter.”

Otten was a rare bright spot for Adelaide on Sunday.

The versatile tall started in the forward line once again and gave Sam Jacobs support in the ruck. He presented strongly throughout the contest, finishing with 3.1 and a goal assist from 13 possessions and seven marks.

“I don’t mind playing that role,” Otten said.

“I like being around the ground. I can run off the ruckman and link up a bit.”

Sanderson spoke to his charges briefly after the game, stressing the importance of playing out the season strongly.

“Sando said we’ve got a lot to work on and that we’ve given up leads in five out of the last seven games,” Otten said.

“We’re going to stick together. There are two games left in the season. We’ll keep trying to guts it out and give something to our fans.”