The bad luck which has plagued the squad all year reared its ugly head yet again when Geelong's Jacob Butler volleyed home the winning goal in the 92^nd minute from a corner of the contest at Morshead Park.

For coach Adam Grinholz it was a case of a learning experience for his team which was playing its third game in a week.

"We've defended corners pretty well all throughout the season, but we just let him free when it mattered and he was able to volley it home from the penalty spot," he said.

"We started a bit off and we copped a 25 metre goal in the first minute-and-a-half, so that was a big wake up call.

"I think we've seen in the last couple of games those three games in seven days have taken their toll and we might have run out of legs a little bit towards the end.

"The game is about mistakes, if no-one ever made a mistake, every game would end nil-all. Every game be it positive, negative, you learn from those situations and you improve."

Grinholz said there was no doubt there had been some marked improvement from the start of the season to now.

"I've got total faith in them and I know they are fighting and working," he said. "This week was unusual as we had no training this week due to the three games.

"What we are seeing is we're keeping games tighter and conceding less chances. The first goal came from 25 yards out, sometimes you just have to say that's too good."

Another home game looms next weekend against Melbourne Victory.

Grinholz said the squad would look forward to the contest knowing it had a full week of preparation ahead of it

"The next couple of weeks we get three training sessions and a game so we'll be able to prepare for each game properly and correct some things," he said.