Essendon has kept their finals hopes alive with a come-from-behind 29-point win over the Fremantle Dockers at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Fremantle made a late, late change, ruling out Sean Darcy after he struggled with a groin injury from late in their winning game against Port Adelaide last week, but Michael Johnson came in for the big man and made an immediate impact. 

Johnson got his team off to a perfect start with the first goal of the game and his Dockers kept the lead for the first half. But the Bombers chipped away at the visitors in the second half to take the 13.21 (99) to 11.4 (70) win. 

"I thought we started good, we could've pinched it there but they were just too good for us at the end," Nathan Wilson told 6PR after the game.