Essendon coach James Hird remains confidenthis side can play finals football in 2012, despite losing to Adelaide indramatic fashion on Sunday night.

The Bombers missed several opportunities togo ahead late in the game after leading by as much as 28 points late in thesecond quarter.

Captain Jobe Watson missed a straightforward set shot at goal and Tayte Pears dropped a chest mark straight in frontwith just 15 seconds left on the clock.

But Hird was ""proud"" of hisplayers and said he had no doubts they would be right in the contest until thefinal siren.

""We've got four games to go and weneed to win one very soon, but I'm very proud of the players and the way theyplayed, they certainly turned up to play,"" Hird said.

""Our boys have been terrific all year,in their resilience, the way they've fought through, they've been through ahard pre-season, they've worked hard and we knew they were going to stay in thegame.""

With four games remaining and 11 wins onthe board, Hird admitted the Bombers would probably need to win two matches tomake the eight.

While insisting he would never be satisfiedwith a loss, Hird said the style of football the Bombers played on Sunday wouldsee them earn a finals berth.

""The message to our players is I wasproud of the way they played, but we're never happy with a loss,"" he said.

""We've gone through a bit of a formslump over the last month … but certainly our football this week againstAdelaide was of a much higher quality.

""With that sort of quality you winmore games than you lose.""

Essendon beat Adelaide in nearly every keystat; winning contested possession, inside 50s and scoring shots, but Hirdpointed out the most telling statistic.

""We lost the important one though -that's goals kicked,"" he said.

""The game was played the way we wantedto play, we just couldn't kick enough goals to win.""

The four-point loss and missed opportunityto move a game clear of North Melbourne into seventh spot on the ladder wasfurther soured with two new soft tissue injuries – this time to Jason Winderlichand Ben Howlett.

Both are thought to have suffered torn hamstringsand add to an incredible number of Bombers who have endured similar injuriesthis year.

Winderlich was on fire in his 100^thgame, booting four goals before he was forced off.

Despite the two injuries, Hird wasoptimistic about the quality that could return to Essendon's line up for itsvital match against North Melbourne next week.

Whoever wins the game will hold onto aposition in the eight, while the loser could be forced out if Fremantle beatsthe Crows.

Hird said he expected up to five keyplayers back in the side.

""Dustin Fletcher will come back, AngusMonfries will come back, Stewart Crameri will come back, Brent Stanton's a verygood chance … Michael Hibberd's a good chance, so we've got four or five verygood players to come back,"" he said.

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