WITH JUST one fit man on the bench after half time on Saturday, Essendon coach Matthew Knights allowed himself to admire the courageous efforts of his players, but was ultimately disappointed with the four-point loss to Richmond at the MCG.

“There’s no excuses; we were down to 19 [players], that’s a fact. We just had to deal with it and thankfully for the players it didn’t affect them. They played admirably -- they played their hearts out,” Knights said after Andrew Welsh, Angus Monfries and Jay Neagle were lost to injury.

“The second half with 19 was gallant and they certainly played better football in the second half with 19 rather than 22 which is not ideal.

“[But] I said to the players post-game that the reality is I don’t care whether we’re down to 16 or 17 [players]. When you’re there to win the game with 10 minutes to go, it’s a disappointing loss.

“When you’re there to win it, it’s no holds barred, you’re there to get the chocolates and have a win.”

Knights lamented his side’s inability to make the most of its opportunities when it did have a full complement of players early in the game and was particularly disappointed with the lack of forward pressure.

The coach pinpointed a greater desire to play on, and improved individual efforts from his forwards as the keys to the stunning reversal that saw a 24-point deficit at half time turned into a 12-point lead late in the third quarter.

Even after the Tigers had surged back in front of the tiring Bombers in the final term, they still had chances to win before Joel Bowden iced the game by rushing successive behinds.

“Joel is obviously very experienced and knew what he was doing and credit to Joel -- it was pretty good play in the end,” Knights said.

“Joel did what he had to do to win the game. We were pressing, I think we had three or four shots in the last four or five minutes, so we were pressing really hard and I just thought if we could get the ball back in play we might have had another opportunity to score.

With only “26 or 27” fit players at his disposal following the loss, Knights conceded finals football was almost certainly beyond his club this year.

“We were a fair way off the action even before today – two games and percentage – so I guess it makes it really difficult now from our perspective,” he said.

“We are a little bit light on and it’s disappointing because you’d like to be giving guys like Scott Gumbleton, Courtenay Dempsey, Alwyn Davey, Jason Winderlich and Heath Hocking exposure for their development.”