East Warrnambool captain Mark Murphy ensured the Pirates were unable to claim an outright victory over the Broncos last week, digging in for a knock of 46.

However, Port Fairy still emerged with a vital win, climbing to third place in the association standings.

Pirates co-captain Kalon Wilkie said his side were beginning to find their two-day groove and were built for the longer form of the game.

“I think we’re geared for it a little bit. If we held some catches against East (Warrnambool) I think we could have got the outright,” he said.

“The 50-50 catches are especially important to take. We needed to because those extra points could have been critical for us later in the year.

"The short form stuff makes it hard to gauge and the stats can lie a bit. It can be hard because guys sometimes aren’t getting a hit or a bowl regularly.

“We’ve been pushing for outrights a couple of times this year so we’ve only been batting for 50 overs and trying to bowl the rest. It would be nice to bat the full 80 overs to see where we’re at.”

Due to struggles suffered at the hands of teams out of finals contention, Wilkie said it was more crucial for his team to knock off tenth-placed Merrivale on Saturday.

“We’ve actually rolled up most of the top sides so far this year, but we’ve struggled against the lower teams,” Wilkie admitted.

“We need to win every game from here on out to make sure we get a finals spot. We don’t need to look at extra points from here, I think just winning is important.”

He said the team was beginning to find its balance as the season reached its final months of play.

“Dan Nicholson has been a good inclusion into our division one side. He’s a jet in the field and is a wicket-taking bowler. He just bowls them on the spot and gets them,” Wilkie said.

“He balances our attack well. We have our three pacemen and our three spinners as well, and they’re all different types of bowlers.”

Meanwhile, Koroit fell agonisingly close to dismissing Merrivale’s chase of its total of 192. The Saints leading wicket taker, Bailey Gardiner, clinched four pegs in his return to the side.

However, a score of 65 from all-rounder Callum Humphrys ensured the Tigers were able to win.