Mernda is hoping to lock in a win this Saturday and with it a spot in at least the Diamond Valley Cricket Association Money Shield for next season.
The Demons are in fourth spot after the first day of play in the second last round of the season.
While the Demons have one eye on a finals spot in their first season back up in the Money Shield, they also have one eye on relegation.
With three sides to drop down come season’s end with the competition going to four shield competitions, the Demons aren’t safe just yet.
Demons’ president Rob Corrigan said things were travelling nicely around the club with people up and about with a few teams looking to make finals.
“We are about where I thought that we would be,” he said. “At the start of the season we wanted to stay in the Money Shield so making the top five was our objective.
“Hopefully we get the win and a couple of results go our way and we can tick that off.
“We had a couple of good recruits in Gareth Sharp and Arshdee Singh and they have helped us. They’ve been good and we’re pleased where we are at the moment.”
While survival is one thing, a finals appearance would be a huge boost for the group and show the growth of the side.
The first thing the Demons need to do to achieve that is beat Bundoora Park this Saturday.
Corrigan said the match was evenly poised after day one.
“We will need to get a couple of early wickets,” he said. “The aim was to bat 80 overs and we were about 20 short.
“We were in a good position at 2-70 before we had a bit of a collapse and last wickets in clumps.
“We had a partnership to get us to 160. It would have been good to be nearer to 200.”
The Demons were bowled out in the 56th over for 160.
Bundoora Park will resume at 2-30 having faced 24 overs.
Corrigan said they were confident that their bowlers could get the job done.
“We were in a similar position against Research [Eltham Collegians] the week before and won.”
It’ll be a big weekend for the Demons who are in the Money Shield summer smash grand final on Sunday.
The Demons won a final over thriller to win through to the grand final.
The Demons will face Lower Plenty in the grand final which is one of four for the day.
“We made the semi finals last year in the Mash Shield,” Corrigan said. “We’ve gone one step further.
“Lower Plenty are a pretty tough team and on top of the Money Shield at the moment. We’ll give it our best shot and see how it goes.
“The juniors start the day off, it’s a good addition from the DVCA.”
