Sunbury has another challenge ahead of itself with the bat in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association Steve McNamara Shield.
The Roar, which is second on the ladder, are doing battle with Gellibrand in the second last match of the season.
For the first part of day one it was all the Roar, before Gellibrand showed some resistance late in the day on the first day of action.
Roar coach Leo Italiano said it was a good day of action with both sides having their moments.
“We were looking really good early in the day before Gellibrand grinded it out,” he said.
“You expect that from a good team.
“It was a good day of cricket and we were on top early on and blew open the top order away before the middle and lower order responded.
“It wasn’t really free flowing earlier on and at 6-50 early on we were hoping to have them bowled out for under 100.
“They had a couple of bats dig in and get a couple of 50s and take the innings deep and give us a competitive total to chase next week.”
After being sent in, Gellibrand finished the day at 9-193.
Jackson Treweek, Jack McGann and Zac Corcoran took two wickets each for the Roar as they shared the load around.
Italiano said week two would be another good challenge for them with the bat as they look to continue their winning streak.
“We’ve batted well in recent games,” he said. “Looking at stats we don’t have the most wickets of the most runs.
“We’ve stayed in games and grinded away. We’ll keep grinding away a little bit more, it’s in our dna.
“That is the challenge,.
“We were thrilled with the win last week and with other results helping us we’ve been able to put on a gap on the chasing pack.
“It counts for nought if we don’t win the next couple of games.”
A win against Gellibrand would just about seal the Roar’s finals spot with one round remaining.
There are currently five sides fighting for the last three finals spots, with Williamstown Imperials having already locked in top spot.
Gellibrand is one of those sides trying to force its way into the top four.
Italiano said they know if they loss both games that they could miss the top four all together.
The Roar faces PEGS in the final round, with PEGS needing to keep winning to ensure its fate in the division 2 competition.
But the group isn’t looking that far too ahead.
“We don’t talk about finals,” he said. “It’s innings by innings and aim to win that innings.”
The finals hopes of Sunbury’s second XI suffered a hit on Saturday as it conceded first innings points on day one.
Sunbury was bowled out for 111 with Gellibrand finishing the day at 4-131.
The Roar sits three points outside the top four.
