The team consolidated its place at the summit with victory over Central Wendouree last Saturday and now faces another difficult encounter on the Creswick synthetic.

Stewart, who bowls in the division one side, said no game could be taken for granted and expected a tough contest against the sixth-placed Wickers this weekend.

“There’s five games to go and you’ve only got to drop a couple of games and you could find yourself out (of the top four),” Stewart said.

Ballarat East, which Stewart said would keep the same line-up to the one that beat the Bears by four shots last week, is five points clear of second-placed City Oval on the ladder.

The Wickers, which lost to City Oval last weekend, is only 15 points adrift of the finals bracket.

Stewart said the club’s aim was simply to reach finals.

“We just want to consolidate and be in the four... it’s a different game come finals,” he said.

“If you finish in the top four, anybody from first to fourth can win it.”

Also on Saturday, there’s an important battle at the foot of the ladder.

Webbcona and Sebastopol will lock horns, with both sides trying to save themselves from relegation.

While the Kookaburras are at the bottom, the team is in good form after defeating finals contenders Buninyong last round.

Sebastopol is still well adrift of the ninth-placed Webbcona, which is 18 points behind eighth-placed Learmonth.

In the Geelong-Ballarat Premier Bowls competition, BMS will be aiming to keep itself out of the drop zone.

BMS will travel to take on City of Geelong, which is yet to win a game during the 2017-18 campaign.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Sebastopol will host Webbcona, Victoria is at home to Ocean Grove, top side Bareena will battle Queenscliff and Lara has a clash against Eastern Park.