Clinging to third place on the ladder, less than a point above Wodonga Raiders, anything short of a draw for Mount Beauty will have the club seriously reassessing its premiership chances.

Skipper Alastair Randell though, believes his side can bounce back from last week’s loss and knock off Howlong at its home ground.

“We hadn’t lost a game until last week,” Randell said.

“We’ve certainly got the team to beat Howlong, I think it’ll just depend on whether we can bat out our 80 overs.

“We didn’t play well last week but we’re looking forward to the chance to take on Howlong.”

Howlong’s strong all-round line-up means Mount Beauty will have to dig in to escape with a favourable result, something Randell said he’s acknowledged.

“They&rsquo ;ve certainly got a couple of big contributors with the bat in Adam Hall and Luke Daly and I guess when you look at their team it’s pretty solid throughout,” Randell said.

“Our focus is our batting.

“We didn’t bat well against the Raiders but if we can get that right our bowling has been pretty tight all year.”

Randell singled out opening bowler Shannon Carter as critical to bringing Howlong’s batsman unstuck but admitted he’d need plenty of support from Jeremy Peacock and Greg McLennan throughout the match.

“Shannon was injured last week against Raiders but he’ll be important for us this week ... he’s probably our fastest bowler,” Randell said.

“We’ll also be looking to Jeremy and Greg, too.

“I think it’s going to be a really tight game but if we play to our strengths I reckon we can win.”

In the weekend’s other games, Wodonga Raiders could leap-frog Mount Beauty as early as next week if it beats Eskdale as expected.

Kiewa will be desperate to overcome second- placed Baranduda and move into the top four while Bethanga should be too good for Yackandandah.