MELTON South’s only realistic shot at the Ballarat Football League top six ended on Saturday with a 28-point defeat at the hands of Ballarat.
Only a Ballarat loss to winless Sebastopol can reopen the top six door for the Panthers after the 10.10 (70) to 6.6 (42) result at Alfredton Oval.
Ballarat (sixth, 7-7, 103 per-cent) is all but mathematically safe in the six from Melton South (5-9, 90) and has the winless Burras as one of its last two games.
At Darley, East Point took the upper hand ahead of a potential elimination final meeting between the Roos and Devils by winning 17.16 (118) to 13.10 (88).
Darley will play in the fourth-verses-fifth elimination final, most likely against East Point with an outside chance of Redan slipping from third to fourth in the next two weeks.
At Melton, the Bloods were far from humiliated in their 66-point defeat to North Ballarat City on the weekend, but coach Bob Heaney announced he would stand down at the end of the season.
Heaney has coached Melton to four wins from his 30 games in charge.
