The twists and turns of another incredibly tight Maitland first grade cricket season continue on Saturday with Thornton poised to jump into the top four.
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Thornton need just 38 runs with eight wickets in hand to beat finals rival City United and take fourth spot from them.
But instead of narrowing the field, day one results elsewhere have only further muddied the battle for the finals.
Easts are on track to score an upset win against Raymond Terrace after posting 210 and having the Lions at 7/90 at stumps.
However, the Lions are still in with a chance with Jacob Page and Cameron Bates not out on 23 and 12 respectively and Nick Savage and Jaymes Thomas still to bat.
Bottom side Kurri Weston have resurrected their season holding the upper-hand against top side Northern Suburbs. The Warriors posted 198 and an excellent spell by Alex Seamer (4-51) had Norths on 6/110.
Thornton skipper Jake Moore knows an outright victory against City United would put them in the box seat for semi-finals action, but he knows dismissing City’s talented batting line-up twice is a tall order.
“City have a strong batting line up, especially when you consider Michael Heinrich and Matt Latham came in at eight and nine,” Moore said.
“The priority is to get the runs for the win and see how we go from there.
“We then have games against Wests and Easts, who are also in that battle for the final two spots in the top four.
“The past couple of years we have started the season poorly and had good second halves, but we were always reliant on results from other teams.
“The great thing is that we have our destiny in our own hands.”
A Thornton victory would lift them to 32 points, equal with third-placed Western Suburbs who have the bye this round.
Thornton and Wests meet next round before meeting Easts and Kurri Weston respectively in the final round.
If Easts beat Raymond Terrace and City lose they will be equal on 31 points in fifth and sixth.
Easts have the bye next round and will be reliant on results in other games falling their way to make the finals.
City United play Kurri Weston next round and have Raymond Terrace in the final round. Victory in both games would almost certainly give them a spot in the finals.
Even if they lose Raymond Terrace and Northern Suburbs are guaranteed top-two finishes, however the minor premiership is still very much up for grabs.
The two teams meet next round in a potential minor premiership decider. Norths then have the bye.
