On that day, a stunning collapse from Wendouree gave East Ballarat a chance, despite having a big deficit on the first innings.

While this year's game is completely different in style, the final overs of day two, played last Sunday, could once again have a huge impact on what happens this weekend.

Last weekend it was Golden Point's tail of Daniel McDonald and Andrew Warrick that managed to hold out for a combined 137 balls, allowing the Pointees to avoid the follow on, recovering from 9-120 to get them within 98 runs of East Ballarat's 251.

Had East Ballarat been able to bowl 15 or so over late on day two, Golden Point could have found itself in a no-win situation.

Now, however, the pressure falls back onto the shoulders of the East Ballarat's batters to make sure they have taken their opponents out of the game.

Harry Ganley's solo effort of the unbeaten 156 has given his side the advantage, but there's plenty of runs left in the wicket.

While there is still two days to play, Saturday looms as the crucial day of the contest. Should East Ballarat manage to bat out all day, the match will likely be beyond Golden Point's reach.

However, should the Pointees bowl with the same ferocity we saw in the big semi-final win over Ballarat-Redan, running through the opposition for just 62, then anything is possible. A chase of around 250 would set up a thrilling conclusion on the final day of play on Sunday.

Saturday looms as a big patience day for both teams. East Ballarat will be in no hurry and Golden Point will need all its guile and experience to prize out the Hawks strong batting line-up.

East Ballarat skipper Jacob Eyers said he knew that anything could happen, but admitted he would rather have a first innings lead than not.

"Anything can happen at the weekend, it's not over until the last ball," he said. "Most definitely I'm happy we're in front, but it's far from over.

"You'd hope that Harry can do that again, but it'll be better for us all that we have a few players get some 30s and 40s, maybe an 80 or 90 from someone else, so we can bat them out of the game."

Eyers said he was thrilled with the way his bowlers, led by Tom Walton held up the Golden Point batting line-up. Walton bowled tirelessly for 5-36 from 30.5 overs, while Adam Eddy also chipped in with three wickets.

Being able to start fresh again will be critical for Golden Point's bowlers on Saturday. A couple of early wickets and the game will definitely be up for grabs.

Golden Point skipper Josh Pegg said he had full confidence in his bowling attack to set-up a chasable target on the fourth day.

"That last innings last weekend has really given us a chance to set up the game, there's no real pressure on us now, it's up to East Ballarat to bat well," he said.

"If our bowlers can bowl them out in a day, it gives us 80 overs to bat on the Sunday and just hope it can fall our way.

"Last week wasn't ideal. Our bowling was top-notch apart from the one player that got away. With a bowling group I was impressed with how we went, hopefully the batters get an opportunity to show what they can do this week."

EAST BALLARAT - Abhilasha Rodrigo, Adam Eddy, Chris Jerram, Harli Givvens, Harry Ganley, Jacob Eyers (c), Josh Smith, Joshua Brown, Lewis Hodgins, Samuel Cocks, Tom Walton

GOLDEN POINT - Andrew Falkner, Andrew Warrick, Daniel McDonald, Daniel White, Joshua Pegg (c), Joshua White, Lachlan Anderson, Lukas Pegg, Manjula De Zoysa, Mohomed Feshal, Simon Ogilvie

East Ballarat 8-251 (H Ganley 156no, L Hodgins 24, D McDonald 2-44, A Warrick 2-51, J Pegg 2-67) v Golden Point 153 (M De Zoysa 31, J White 29, T Walton 5-36, A Eddy 3-41)

Play resumes at 1pm on Saturday at Eastern Oval