The Bulldogs were missing their three B's - Bob Jackson, BJ Garvey and Byron Hales - and the home team took advantage, posting a 58-run win.

"It was a good win, we probably left 30 runs out there, but 205 is pretty competitive," opening batsman Neil Smith said.

The Patties will play finals for only the second time in the past five years and they owe much of that to the left-hander, who top-scored with 74, along with their consistency with the bat.

"We're getting 200-plus every week and it obviously puts teams under pressure, it's been good," Smith explained.

Smith and fellow opener Matt Crawshaw (32) combined in a 71-run stand with Mitch O'Brien (26) then sharing a 54-run partnership with the former Scotland under 19 international.

Captain Dean Nicholson chipped in with 28 at No.4 as the Patties carried the score to 8-205.

Wodonga leg-spinner Michael Grohmann claimed the first five-wicket haul of his provincial first grade career, finishing with 5-45 from 10 overs.

Grohmann had previously taken only two wickets for the season.

Without gun batsman Jackson (family commitments in Melbourne) and the reliable Garvey (wedding), it was always going to be a monumental effort and even moreso when the Bulldogs lost 3-0 after Mitch Dinneen (21) and youngster Archer Scammell (17 from 64 balls) compiled a 36-run opening stand.

"It's probably the youngest team I've had here, but I've got confidence in all those boys, they play rep cricket in the under 16s and they've shown they're good enough," captain Tom Johnson said.

Riverina representative Johnson was the only Cricket Albury-Wodonga player to fulfill his club commitments after the decision was made that his fellow rep players would miss the round to prepare for the NSW Country Championship grand final at Goulburn the following day.

"We were short for numbers and I'd rather play, I was surprised how tight the ladder is that the boys were told they couldn't play," he offered.

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Murray Price (39 from 48) and Cam Suidgeest (38 from 49) shared a 64-run partnership for the sixth wicket before the team was dismissed for 147 from only 41.3 overs.

There's only two rounds left before finals, which is now a top eight.