The Dragons are third on the McIntyre Cup ladder but are followed closely by Romsey, Rupertswood and Riddell. Captain Simon Harmon knows that any slight hiccup could cost them a spot inside the top four.

"There will be no finals if we don't win so we need to play to our maximum against a strong side," he said.

"They have some really good players and they are the best side in the competition at the moment, but if we play to out strengths then I'm sure we'll get a win."

Harmon expects some of his more experienced players to step up and hopes bowlers Dale Thornton and Lawrence Webb can get the side off to a good start.

"Dale [Thornton] has been taking a few wickets lately and has just been doing well in general for us," he said.

"If he and and Lawrence [Webb] get some early wickets it will set us up well and we might have a good chance of winning the match."

The match will be equally important to Sunbury United.

Their coach James Hughes said he wanted to "keep the winning feeling going".

"The word lose doesn't come into our vocabulary.

"We just want to keep on winning and if we win three more games it means we have won the grand final.

"If we beat Gisborne then we will be out of the competition but all we are concerned about is setting ourselves up for the finals series."

Unlike Harmon, Hughes does not look to any particular players to stand up and he instead expects his entire squad to perform and "raise their game".

"I want all of my players to step up and I expect them to raise their game by 10, 15 and 20 per cent over the next few weeks which means we will be ready for the final," he said. "But we need to build on what we've done all year and take each game at a time.

"We'll focus on the finals later."

The match will take place on Saturday at Langama Park and will start at 1.30pm.