At Winter Reserve

GEELONG West has kept its slim finals hopes alive after restricting the dominant East Belmont batting line-up to just 169 on Saturday. The eighthplaced Rams need a lot to go their way to sneak into sixth spot, with seventhplaced Grovedale and sixth-placed Murgheboluc needing to lose. Murgheboluc has already lost on first innings, but Grovedale is well poised in its clash against South Barwon.

Still, West can only concentrate on securing the points at Winter Reserve and Tim Wight (5-52) helped give it an outside chance. Chris Bambury (39) and James McMahon (36) top scored for East, which struck back late in the day by taking out openers Mike Chapple and Kenny Spence. Sam Loftus and Damian Vassiliou hold the key with the bat here, although Luke Slater can also be lethal.