Western Bulldogs coach Nathan Burke says staying composed in critical moments is one of the learnings his group will take away from Saturday’s four-point loss to West Coast.

Trailing by seven points at the final break and having lost key forward Bonnie Toogood to a knee injury in the first quarter, the Bulldogs were forced to play catch-up, but struggled to hit the scoreboard when it mattered most.

“We’re disappointed – our effort again was unquestionable, but we probably did some things that hurt ourselves,” Burke said in the post-match press conference.

“Once we are under the pump a bit, we get a bit frantic and all want to save the day, but sometimes (in doing that) we lose where we want to be.

“I don’t blame the girls for that, because they just want to give more and more effort, but sometimes that effort takes us away from some of our plans we want to do.

“We’ve just got to be a bit more composed in those situations.”

Leader Kirsty Lamb echoed the thoughts of her coach.

“I think it’s been the storyline of our last couple of weeks – we’ve had chances and have just missed them slightly,” she said.

“It is pleasing that there are really good things we are doing, but we’re just missing that last little bit.

“That’s the positive thing that we’re trying to reinforce with the group – there’s a lot of good stuff we are doing even though the win-loss doesn’t look like that.”

The Bulldogs currently sit in fifth spot on the Conference B ladder, following three consecutive defeats.

They will meet the fourth-placed Magpies on Sunday afternoon at Morwell Recreation Reserve at 1.10pm.