Elgin skipper Jordan McWilliam is determined to put the building blocks in place for next season by finishing this term with a flourish.
The Moray outfit recorded their first senior league win of the season in their last outing on August 7, when they defeated Nairn County by 17 runs at the Links.
Despite the wait for a victory, McWilliam has been heartened by his young side’s progress this term.
Although Elgin remain bottom of the table, McWilliam hopes to leapfrog Nairn into fourth in their three remaining games, which start with Saturday’s home match against Northern Counties.
McWilliam said: “The main aim is to try and finish second bottom, but I’m confident about next year.
“We have another couple of players who have said they might be coming back, so hopefully we will have a good team.
“This year has been an improvement so far because we have actually competed in matches, even though we have still been losing.
“It’s a fine change from showing up and being hit for 600 runs and scoring 60 ourselves.
“We still have a lot of young players. We have three 18-year-olds and a fourth who plays now and then at 17.
“There are then four of us in our 20s, so it’s a young team.”
McWilliam says securing the first win of the campaign was a weight off the Cooper Park side’s shoulders.
He added: “It was good to get the first win in the league. I wasn’t actually playing, it was Rob Quilliam who stepped in as captain so he showed me how to do it.
“I’ll be back this weekend so I’ll need to step up my game again.
“We were just getting used to losing so hopefully now we can push on from here.
“We have three games left, so it would be a huge boost to get a result this weekend against Northern Counties.”
In this weekend’s other fixture, leaders Forres St Lawrence face a quick rematch against Ross County who triumphed in last Saturday’s senior cup final to secure a cup double.