Crows coach Brenton Sanderson has lamented his side’s inability to close out the game from a position of strength.

“It’s a bit similar to last week where we took a lead into the last quarter, 12 points up with 10 minutes to go, feeling like we were going to go away with the game (and) obviously we did some things that were really poor decisions that cost us the game,” he said.

“Again we have to question some of the decisions we made at critical times.”

Following the narrow loss, their sixth by less than two goals in 2014, Sanderson also questioned the Crows’ ability to genuinely mix it with the competition’s top sides.

“We have to find ways to get better at those moments where we hit the front and we should go on and win. We let sides get back into the game too often.

“That’s the sixth time this year we’ve lost a game by less than two goals, so we’re not far away, but we’re still not good enough to be able to compete with those top eight sides.

“When this season does end we will have to have a look at ways to spend the summer teaching these boys to handle late-in-game situations much better than what we’ve shown this season.

Despite admitting James Podsiadly had let the Crows down when he ‘lost his cool’ during a key moment in a nail-biting final term against North Melbourne in Hobart, Sanderson said the veteran forward wasn’t alone in contributing to his side’s demise.

Just as the Crows looked poised to run over the Kangaroos to firm up their place in the finals, Podsiadly had a set-shot on goal taken from him for pushing Kangaroos defender Michael Firrito forcefully with an open-hand to the stomach, a blunder that saw momentum swing towards North as they eventually consigned the Crows to a seven-point defeat.

To compound the situation, Podsiadly then gave away a 50m penalty by not returning the ball correctly to Firrito

“He took plenty of marks for us today and gave us a target ahead of the ball,” Sanderson told reporters in Hobart. “He was stiff, he hit the post with that last kick and had the mark reversed, the free kick, (but) he wasn’t the only one.

“There were other times today we let each other down with the way we played.

“I know that Firrito does niggle at you all day and is an aggressive player, and obviously ‘Pods’ lost his cool at a critical time of the game and there were other moments we could have handled better as well.”

The Crows can still taste September action if they beat lowly St Kilda next weekend, but no longer have their finals fate in their own hands.

“We have to wait until next Sunday to see where we finish on the ladder and we’ve missed a great opportunity to control where we went from here.”