ADELAIDE coach Neil Craig has conceded the Crows may have left their run for the finals too late despite securing a third win in a row with a 22-point victory over West Coast at Subiaco Oval.

Adelaide trailed at half time and struggled to shake off the Eagles before Kurt Tippett kicked three of his four goals in the final quarter to get the Crows home.

Craig said Adelaide’s first away win of the season was important for the team’s confidence.

“As I keep saying (with) the national competition you’ve got to be able to perform away from you home ground,” he said.

“But clearly this year we haven’t won, until today, away from home.

“It was important for us because our form has been good at home; it’s been very good at home.

“And we’ve most probably faced our most difficult opponent in our short history of our club on their home ground and been able to get a victory, so it’s a pretty special win for us.”

Craig acknowledged the Crows had to struggle at times but said his side had stuck to its task.

 “When we were challenged and got headed we came back and we kept finding something,” he said.

“Our perseverance was something which in the first half of the year was non-existent; when we got challenged we’d fall away, whereas today we hung in there and continued to give some back.”               

Craig said that the Crows recent run of good form may have come too late for its finals hopes.  

“It’s always important for any club to try to aim for the finals and we continue to do that,” Craig said.

“We sat down during the break and just made a decision we need to try to play good quality football and the results will look after themselves, win or loss.

“I guess what we’ve got to concentrate on internally though is what’s going to enable us to continue to play some very good footy which we’re doing at the moment.”

The Crows return to Adelaide to face ladder-leader Geelong on Friday night.