A fast finishing Essendon flattened Adelaide with a late surge to notch a valuable 11-point AFL victory on Friday night.

The Bombers were 37 points down midway through the second term but prevailed 12.12 (84) to 10.13 (73) on foreign soil at AAMI Stadium.

Essendon's courageous win ensures they will remain in the top eight, no matter what the other weekend results are.

The Bombers had just the sole multiple goalkicker in Alwyn Davey, who booted two, and didn't hit the front until the 20th minute of the final term.

But they kicked nine of the last 10 goals of the match as Angus Monfries, just days after admitting he was on-field stager, responding to the spotlight with a best afield 27 disposal display.

Monfries and mates were swamped early as Adelaide blitzed the Bombers, with ruckman Sam Jacobs and rebounding defender Graham Johncock influential in the home side's 5.3 to 0.2 opening term which stunned Essendon.

Backman Johncock twice drifted forward unattended and converted with panache as the Crows belied their lowly 14th spot on the ladder, making the Bombers pay for a series of skill blunders.

However Johncock's night soured early in the second term, helped from the ground after landing heavily from a leaping spoil. The evergreen back pocket was substituted at halftime.

Moments after his suspected back injury, the Bombers broke through for their first goal of the match - by Monfries in the eighth minute of the second quarter.

Adelaide held sway and tall utility Brad Moran goaled after taking a stretching mark in front of Bomber veteran Duncan Fletcher to help restore a commanding six-goal break at halftime.

But Adelaide's ascendancy collapsed in the third term when Essendon kicked four goals to one to steal back into the match.

With beanpole Patrick Ryder and veteran David Hille nullifying Jacobs in ruck, the visitors booted the last three majors of the quarter against an increasingly jittery Adelaide.

Essendon's scoring spree placed them within striking range, just 16 points down at three-quarter time and riding a wave of momentum.

Half-forward Kyle Reimers ensured the tide remained with the Bombers, booting his first goal just 16 seconds in the final quarter to further shrink the margin.

A tense 10-minutes ensued before Reimers again was pivotal, breaking into attack and, with a laser pass, finding Davey who converted to bring the Bombers within six points.

The teams traded further goals before lively Bomber David Zaharakis levelled the scores and his young teammate Travis Colyer kicked the match winner in just his 17th match.

Essendon coach James Hird praised the character of his side to overcome the hefty halftime deficit of six goals.

"It's hard to explain, our first quarter and a half were pretty poor but that is probably taking away from Adelaide, they were terrific," Hird said.

"I think our guys are getting ... belief in themselves and there was a real belief tonight that no matter how far we are behind ... we could come back and make it a fight."

Adelaide coach Neil Craig said his men blew chances to stitch up a win, despite losing creative defenders Johncock (hip) and Matthew Jaensch (shoulder).

"We lost our way in terms of our execution, I thought we still had plenty of opportunities, even in the last quarter, to win the game," Craig said.

"Losing Johncock and Jaensch hurt us badly from a rotation point of view."

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