THE two dominant teams of the 2023/24 Murray Valley Pennant Association season will go head-to-head tomorrow for the Weekend Pennant Division One title.
Murray Downs will host the final match-up as Racecourse travels to take on the Murray Downs side, with both teams on 12 wins and three losses.
The Rams will go into the final as favourites, having won two of the three match-ups between the two sides but Racecourse have shown that they can get the job done.
The two sides met in the season’s opening round, in a match that Racecourse won 74 shots to 70.
But the following two meetings have gone the other way, the Rams victorious in Round 6, 79 shots to 61 and by a margin of 86 shots to 54 in Round 11.
If the scorelines are anything to go by, Murray Downs have grown into the season, but a final season loss at the hands of Moulamein shows that the side are fallible.
However, the first semi-final showed that Racecourse will need to be at their best to put an end to Murray Downs’ period of dominance.
Racecourse didn’t manage a point to Murray Downs’ 12, as the Rams turned up the heat and ran away and sealed their grand final spot with a 92 to 33 shot win.
The opening finals loss led Racecourse to a match-up with a resilient Moulamein side, who went down swinging in the preliminary final.
The Swans were victorious on a single rink, 30 shots to 19, but a close loss on rink one and a drubbing on rink three put Racecourse through to the final, 88 shots to 57.
Racecourse’s win saw the club with a team in each of the four division deciders, and all divisions are set to battle it out at Murray Downs Golf and Country Club.
It’s a familiar match-up in division two, which will see Murray Downs and Racecourse clash as well.
Murray Downs 2 have defeated Racecourse 2 twice this year of their three opportunities, their last a win by a single shot in round 11.
But Racecourse opened their account with an opening round win against Murray Downs and will be ready to fight for the same result.
Division three sees Lake Boga 2 take on Racecourse 4, with the Racecourse side finishing on top of the ladder with 11 wins.
Lake Boga weren’t far behind in second with 8 wins but have been unable to defeat the ladder leaders so far, they will be aiming to change that tomorrow.
Division 4 pits Racecourse 5 against Manangatang 2, Manangatang will be hoping for a repeat of Round 9 where they defeated Racecourse.
A one-shot loss to their grand final opponents in their semi-final matchup will fill Manangatang supporters with hope of getting up tomorrow.
