Todd Goldstein says he and his North Melbourne teammates need to “keep faith” following the side’s 58-point loss to Essendon.

Despite staying in touch with the Bombers in the first quarter, inaccuracy and skill execution allowed the Dons to kick away to an unassailable lead.

“It’s shattering because we felt like we were ready for the contest,” Goldstein told North Media.

“We felt like we knew what we needed to do, but for some reason we just didn’t execute, and that’s probably the most disappointing bit.

“I think when you are so shattered, it is easy to be really negative, but we did control parts of that game and I think we know that if we can execute our skills better, and we kick those goals, it could be a completely different game.

“We’ve got to keep faith in that and learn from our review.”

While there were multiple reasons the Roos fell away in large parts of the game, the poor ball-use was a glaring issue at Marvel Stadium.

“I think that can happen when your confidence is low and you start second guessing every decision you make, and you’re not probably clear in what you want to do,” Goldstein said.

“When you’re not clear in your mind, it is a lot harder to execute those skills.

“That’s something we have to work on, we have to keep putting ourselves under pressure and try to get better from that.”

With a seven day turnaround before next Friday night’s clash with Port Adelaide, the 30-year-old believes time on the training track can remedy the errors.

“It comes from training and just understanding that we all have those skills to execute those kicks, but it’s just not working,” Goldstein added.

“We can’t lose faith in our ability, and I think that’s what we’ll be focusing on this week.”