Sam McCosh’s side has Nirranda struggling at 7-36 and could still sneak into the top four with an outright if Woodford or West Warrnambool fails to salute.

McCosh revealed the Beavers held firm belief they could crack the top four but weren’t distracted by the lure of finals.

“The final round is always interesting and can throw up some different results,” he said.

“We still hold a lot of belief that we can (make finals) but we’re just trying to keep our mind set on the job at hand.

“We had plans leading into the game and we wanted to achieve our targets. Obviously our first target is to get a first innings win. But Nirranda still has some experienced batsmen to come.”

West Warrnambool is still in the hunt for second place and is likely to sew up the spot if it can outright East Warrnambool-YCW and Russells Creek falls short to Woodford.

Creek could slide to fourth with a loss and a West Warrnambool win, setting up a blockbuster semi-final against ladder leader Allansford.

While Nirranda’s Jason Mungean, Steve Castle and Corey Couch are still to bat – McCosh was confident his talent-laden bowling attack could break through the Knights’ lower order.

“I have full faith in our bowlers. We managed to hit the stumps four times in the first innings so they’re in really good form,” McCosh said.

“It’s been the same with our batters. We’ve had guys lower down the order give us a bit of a revival which has helped us a few times this season.

“We’ve had a good spread of contributors with both bat and ball and that’s the sign of a good team, one which can pick up the slack if one or two guys haven’t had a good day.”