It’s not exactly make or break, but it shapes as a huge couple of days for the teams involved in the competitive division one weekend pennant bowls competition.
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Awaiting the 10 sides is a double-header of action, with round 15 games scheduled for Saturday and round 16 encounters set for Sunday.
And perhaps the team with the toughest battles is City Oval.
The side sits in second place on the ladder despite last weekend’s upset defeat at the hands of lowly Learmonth and is looking forward to clashes against two top four rivals.
City Oval will travel to take on third-placed Ballarat on Saturday before returning home for a game against leaders Ballarat East.
As it stands, with just four rounds to play until the finals begin, City Oval is only seven points behind the Two Blues, but just six clear of Buninyong, which sits just outside the top four in fifth position.
City Oval was relegated from the Geelong-Ballarat Premier Bowls division last season and club chairman and division one player Lloyd Sims said it was the clear aim to return to the top level of competition in 2018-19.
“That was our goal at the start of the year and we haven’t moved from that,” Sims told The Courier.
“We want to get back there and test ourselves further against the best in premier division.”
The gap between Ballarat East and the seventh-placed Learmonth, which made last season’s grand final, is just 22 points.
All grades of the Ballarat District Bowls Division will play weekend pennant matches on both Saturday and Sunday.
However, the Geelong-Ballarat Premier Bowls league only has games on Saturday afternoon.
Sebastopol’s premier side will be out to keep its place inside the finals bracket when it takes on Ballarat Memorial Sports in Alfredton.
BMS allowed City of Geelong its first win of the season last weekend, but is a different outfit at home and can cause some headaches for the Kookaburras, which are only seven points ahead of fifth-placed Lara.
Meanwhile, Victoria can keep itself in the finals conversation when it travels to take on Eastern Park.
The Vics beat Ocean Grove on home soil last round, but are sixth and still 18 points behind Sebastopol on the table.
Eastern Park is one of the teams teetering just above the relegation zone.
Also in round 15, Lara will play at home this weekend against second-placed Queenscliff, the Grovers are fancied to return to winning ways against City of Geelong and Webbcona has a tough encounter against pacesetters Bareena.