The Saints are coming off a massive outright result that puts them back in the frame for an unlikely Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade semi-final berth.

It depends entirely on whether they can defeat a side they have never beaten in the past.

With that dismal record in mind, Ryan says he needs his team to adopt the same aggressive mentality they took into the Blayney match.

“The record against City speaks for itself. They’ve been a very strong team throughout the whole time we’ve been in the competition and we’ve probably been a side that’s battled for a lot of that time,” he said.

“For whatever reason we’ve just struggled to play our best cricket against them, and they aren’t a team where you can afford to be off your game and still beat them. 

“But one thing we learned from last week is that if you take some risks and really try and take the game to the opposition, when it works it really works big-time.

“We didn’t expect that we would be pushing for an outright; you always hope you can get it but it doesn’t happen very often. We just piled up the runs we needed in quick time, we got some early wickets and it happened from there.”

On top of the attacking batting on display from Ryan himself, as well as Derryn Clayton, the restrictive nature of their bowling played a big role in the Blayney win.

Against a Redbacks top-order that isn’t quite firing on all cylinders, new ball combination Matt Fearnley and Nathan Dennis will again be vital.

“Redbacks like to get on with things too, and ‘Fearns’ and Nath are bowling really tightly right at the moment, so I’m hoping we can create some chances early when we have the ball,” Ryan said.

Bathurst City captain Ben Orme has hardly had to worry about his team’s health all season given that prior to last week they had only lost one match. A combination of results, however, sees them in third.

Their hopes of a top-two finish hinge on a win, plus around two bonus points to try to jump over Oxford Centennials and Rugby Union.

With their form not quite where he wants it to be, the skipper says that a win is the only focus for the time being.

“I’d like to be in a position where we can think about the maths of what we have to do to get into first or second,” Orme said.

“We can’t worry about that, though. After losing to Ox-Cents last week we have to find some form. We missed a great opportunity in our second innings on a good batting pitch.

“Pat’s have a lot still to play for. They’ll throw everything at us. I think it is going to come down to how our batsmen combat their bowlers.

“Our bowling is actually doing a pretty good job at the moment and I’m confident that can continue. We just need to see some more intelligent work from the batsmen.”