A SENIOR football final will be played in Ballarat next weekend after the Ballarat Swans pinched fourth position on the ladder on Saturday. And the Swans have Sunbury to thank for it.

The Ballarat Football League's eastern-most team saved the city of Ballarat from a weekend devoid of a BFL final, the Lions knocking Melton South out of the top four at the Melton Recreation Reserve.

The Panthers will now have to travel to Dahlsens Park in Alfredton for a sudden death elimination final next Saturday.

Sunbury's reward for beating Melton South is an elimination final at Clarke Oval on Sunday against Lake Wendouree, while the league's two best-performed teams - Darley and East Point - will meet in a qualifying final at Darley Park on Saturday.

Melton South co-coach Troy Scoble was only marginally disappointed the Panthers would not be playing at home in the first weekend of finals. The greater disappointment out of the loss to Sunbury was giving up third position on the ladder.

"We would love to have played a home final simply to play at home but, from a playing perspective, I think we play better now on a larger ground like Alfredton than a smaller one," Scoble said. "We've got some big targets up forward, as most supporters know, and on the smaller ground opposition teams tend to flood back on them.

"The home final stuff is a bit of a myth. If you are good enough the home ground makes no difference.

"The main disappointment is not finishing third and now missing out on what's possibly the second easiest run into finals."

The Melton South versus Sunbury match and the Ballarat versus Lake Wendouree match were carbon copies of one another in that the team that made the most of its chances beat the team that controlled most of the play.

Melton South and Lake Wendouree squandered set shots on goal during the final term (the Lakers kicked five behinds in a row at one point).