Richmond will remain inside the top eight at the end of Round 5, despite a painful one-point loss to Fremantle at Patersons Stadium on Friday night.

The Tigers travelled to Perth minus Troy Chaplin, Reece Conca and Steve Morris from last week’s side, and lost Jake King before the match to injury.

But they almost pulled off a memorable victory, hitting the front with two minutes to play, before Hayden Ballantyne goaled with 90 seconds remaining secured victory for the home side.

“It was one of those battles that quite easily could’ve gone either way,” Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said after the match.

“You’ve just got to make the most of your opportunities when you control the ball, and we didn’t do that at various stages.

“It was one of those games we certainly look back and rue the opportunity.  To hit the front and then to lose, is disappointing.”

Hardwick was impressed with the performance of Ty Vickery, who took eight marks (four contested), kicked three goals and collected 13 disposals.

“Ty was very good, I thought he was one of the better players on the ground tonight,” he said.

“He’s been thereabouts, he probably just hasn’t had opportunities presented to him at stages.

“It was good to see him take a couple of strong marks and get rewarded with some scoreboard.”

Hardwick also praised the efforts of Adelaide recruit Chris Knights, who kicked three goals and gathered 19 disposals.

“He was a little bit disappointing last week, but I thought tonight he took his chances, which was good,” he said.

“He’s still got some areas of his game we’d like to get better, but it was good to see him take a step forward and play well.”

Richmond escaped the match unscathed on the injury front, and have a seven-day break before taking on Geelong at the MCG on Saturday, May 4.