ESSENDON coach James Hird commended his side's fight and spirit in its four-point loss to the Sydney Swans, but admitted his team faces a crunch period and needs to start winning again if it is to maintain its place near the top of the ladder.

The defeat was the Bombers second in a row after their shock loss to Melbourne last week, and sees them likely to fall out of the top-four next week when they have their bye.

Hird conceded his team's lousy conversion rate was again costly, like it was against the Demons. Although noting the side's clear improvement from last year, he pointed out they needed to get back to the winners' list with a tough draw in the second half of the year looming.

"We've always talked about improvement in our playing group and I think we've shown that this year so far," Hird said.

"In ways you give them a big pat on the back for what they've done in the first half [of the season] but in the other way you say, 'Well, two losses in a row, we're going to have to start winning pretty soon, boys, if we want to keep our position in the top eight'."

The Bombers' defeat came after dominating the statistics, with the home team having 78 inside 50 entries, which was the fourth most ever recorded. The Bombers also won the contested possessions and had significantly more clearances, but were still 47 points behind at three-quarter time.  

Hird said, as well as kicking more goals than points, his side's use of the ball going forward needed some tweaking.

"There's no doubt our method into the forward line didn’t give our forwards the best opportunity to kick goals," Hird said.

"We spoke a lot about that at quarter time and half-time about using the ball in a different way and being more adventurous with our ball use. And it took to the last quarter to break the game open and do that."

The last-minute loss of David Zaharakis to a quad tear left a hole in Essendon's running stocks against the Swans and will be a loss in the next four weeks, particularly against Fremantle in two weeks at Patersons Stadium.

"It's disappointing and we're going to have to cover a very good player," Hird said.

Callum Twomey is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter at @AFL_CalTwomey.