But for Bears selector Colin Wright, the focus to this point has been on simply remaining in the top tier.

Central Wendouree earned promotion back to the Premier Division for this season and, although Wright said the club always genuinely believed it deserved to be playing premier bowls, the results were starting to prove it.

The Bears sit in sixth position as the second-highest ranked Ballarat side, 14 points outside a finals position.

Their latest win – a stirring 86-82 victory over Webbcona  on Saturday – could mostly be attributed to skipper Col Johnson, who steered his side to victory with a win over the rink of Brett Mahoney.

Johnson was the last rink to complete its 20 ends, with just one shot separating the sides with about four ends left.

Carrying on his stellar form for the year, his rink triumphed 34-18 over Mahoney’s, a key factor in the final result.

“He’s (Johnson) been sensational all year and he did it again,” Wright said.

In somewhat of a worrying sign for Central Wendouree, it again trailed at the afternoon tea break, which Wright pin-

pointed as a recurring theme throughout the season.

But as they have done with every win this season, the Bears came home with a wet sail.

“In nearly every game we’ve won this year we’ve been behind at afternoon tea time, which isn’t really ideal,” Wright said.

“We are rapt with where we are at right now, though.

“We haven’t really focused or spoke about the top four. Coming back into the Premier Division this year, the first thing to worry about is survival.”

In the rest of the Premier Division matches, Victoria won the other Ballarat derby with a comfortable 101-84 win over Sebastopol.

Avenue suffered a heart-

breaking one-shot loss to Geelong West, ladder leader Ocean Grove proved far too good for Lara, and Queenscliff triumphed over the struggling Bareena.