Giants two steps from Grand Final

Two wins at Fraser Park in Taita tonight and Masterton-based Giants will be through to the final of the Hutt Valley premier men's softball competition
The third seeds play fourth seeded Dodgers at 6.15pm, with the winner of that game going on to play the loser of the earlier Cardinals v Hutt United City in the major semi-final.
The record book says Giants will go into their match with Dodgers as firm favourites.
The two teams have met five times already this season with Giants having registered four wins and the remaining match being drawn.
Dodgers have also been hurt by the fact that two of their top players, including their pitcher, transferred to Cardinals early last month, a move which caused considerable controversy, but which was allowable under the rules.
Giants assistant coach Russell Thompson still has respect for Dodgers, however, saying the loss of those two players at such an important part of the season gave them an extra incentive to pull something out of the bag tonight.
"They will be pretty peeved off about what has happened and would dearly love a shot at Cardinals in the final," he said. "The furore hasn't helped us in that it will have made them all that more determined to keep their title hopes alive."
Having said that, Thompson believes Giants should have enough power in their batting line-up to take toll of a Dodgers pitching staff which lacks anyone likely to trouble them in terms of speed.
"Their main pitcher does do a bit with the ball, but there won't be a lot of pace there and we should be able to take advantage of that," Thompson said.
Spearheading the Giants batting effort will be the Karaitiana brothers, Corie and Justin, with Corie displaying his skills when he hammered a home run in Giants' 5-3 loss to Hutt City United in the last of the Hutt Valley competition preliminary games last Sunday.
Giants also took a number of safe hits in that match off Black Sox pitcher Jeremy Manley, who had clearl the "wood" on them in previous games.
"It was a big confidence boost for our batters to do so well against that quality of pitching," Thompson said. "He (Manley) has dominated us in the past, so it was good to see the improvement in that respect."
But if the batting was solid in the match with Hutt City United, the Giants effort in the field was not so secure with errors being responsible for most of the runs scored against them.
Thompson described those lapses as "uncharacteristic" and is confident they won't happen again tonight.
"The fielding has been one of our strong points through most of the season, and everyone knows how vital that aspect of the game can be when the pressure is on," he said.
Safely through the Dodgers match, Giants would then face either Cardinals or Hutt City United, with the winner of that game progressing to the grand final of the Hutt Valley competition on March 18.
Giants have already beaten both Cardinals (twice) and Hutt Valley United (once) this season, so while Thompson concedes they would go into a match against either of them as underdogs they were "very capable" of coming away with a victory.
"Potentially we can measure up to either of them at any given time??again it will be a case of keeping mistakes to the minimum in the field and putting bat to ball," he said. "We won't be overawed or intimidated, that's for sure."
The Giants line-up for tonight is ? Pitchers: Richard Clarke, Justin Karaitiana, Blair Thompson. Catcher: Curtis Ames.First base: Mark Quinn. Second base: Trevor Aldred. Third base: Terry Waitere, Gordon Wilmshurst. Short stop: Ryan Shannahan. Outfield: Corie Karaitiana, Cory Kinnon, Jared Lambert Substitutes: Tony Nixon, Russell Thompson, Neil Foote.
For Tony Nixon, Russell Thompson, Gordon Wilmshurst and Neil Foote tonight's matches will be the start of a hectic few days.
They will drive to Hastings at the conclusion of the major semi-final and tomorrow be part of the Giants line-up contesting the national Evergreens tournament there.
They are due to play North Harbour at 11am and Canterbury at 2pm, a horror draw when you consider North Harbour won this particular event three years ago and Canterbury likewise two seasons back.
Strengthening the Giants line-up are two "imports", former Black Sox players Simon Kerr from the Hutt and Rod Reid, who these days lives in Kaikoura.
Then on Saturday the Giants premier team will be desperate to keep their Inter City competition hopes alive when they play a double header against Porirua and Kapiti at Kapiti.
Two wins there and Giants could still be in the running for the top four play-offs in an event which attracts the top club sides from two of the country's most powerful men's softball regions, Hutt Valley and Wellington.