Friday night’s home-court loss to Knox was Bendigo’s sixth on the Braves’ showcourt and ninth of the season.

With new ladder leader Kilsyth comprehensively defeating Dandenong on Saturday night, the Braves slipped to second.

The Braves bounced back after their seven-point loss to Knox with a 26-point win at Ballarat, but that wasn’t enough to hold off Kilsyth from gaining top position.

Braves coach Ben Harvey said despite no longer holding down top place, finishing in the top two is still a great achievement.

“We’re in the top two, win or lose this weekend, which is a fantastic achievement,” he said.

“At the start of the season we didn’t know what was achievable, so to be in the top two is just fantastic.

“It would be great to draw a home final, but if we don’t we’ll just have to win at Kilsyth.”

Harvey added that his team had what it takes to match it with the best in the competition, but just needed to regain some of the confidence they had earlier in the season.

“We’ve been criticised for not beating the top teams, but we beat Nunawading by 31-points and they are on an 11-game winning streak, and we beat Kilsyth by 28-points earlier in the season, and they are on top of the ladder. We’re in the top two teams in the league.

“Can we go that extra step? Yes we can.

“Can we step it up? Yes we can,” Harvey said.

“The guys just need to start believing in themselves and know that good teams bounce back.”

“We are one of the best teams in the competition, just not in the past five weeks.”

The Braves have a chance to regain top stop this weekend when they take on Mount Gambier on the Pioneers court.

The Bendigo line-up will have to rely on Geelong defeating Kilsyth in the final round to reclaim top place before the SEABL finals action tips off the following weekend.