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Cape Town - Titans coach Mark Boucher is hoping to end a disappointing 4-Day Domestic Series season strongly when the outgoing champions welcome the Knights to Benoni from Monday.
The Centurion-based franchise have not enjoyed a happy campaign thus far, winning just once, losing four times and drawing the other four out of their nine matches to sit second bottom on the standings.
They have struggled to find any sort of rhythm as injuries and national call-ups appear to have taken their toll.
Boucher concedes it has been a poor season and hopes to end it well with a positive result at Willowmoore Park.
"Hopefully we'll get a few of our international players back and that will bolster us a bit," he said. "I think we've shown that when have had one or two of them, it makes a significant difference.
"We want to try to finish well and maybe then get a little bit of momentum heading into the One-Day Cup."
The latest defeat for the home team came earlier this week when they were sent tumbling by the log-leading Cape Cobras in Oudtshoorn.
The Titans were thumped by eight wickets in a match that saw Dane Piedt claim 13 wickets and Boucher acknowledged they were once again poor.
"It was disappointing," he conceded. "I think this particular game, Dane Piedt did bowl very well, but we dropped four catches and that didn't help us very much especially on a pitch that had we ended up being level with them after the first innings then things could have been a lot different.
"But it wasn't to be and so it’s just a continuation of the disappointment with the bat.
"With the ball, I thought we did a lot better than we have been, except for the first session and then the drops. So when it rains, it seems to pour.
"But bottom line is that it's been a disappointing season."
For the Knights, it has also been a below-par season, although the Bloemfontein-based side have shown plenty of promise in almost every game.
They boast the competition’s top-scorer in Keegan Petersen - the right-hander has been exceptional in amassing 923 runs this year.
Petersen and his team-mates, who lost to the Highveld Lions this week, will be aiming for a strong finish, although assistant coach Werner Coetsee acknowledges that a trip to the Titans is never easy.
"The Titans are always a difficult team, so it will be a tough game for us," he conceded. "There's been a lot of encouragement for us in these last few games, even though the results may not have been what we wanted.
"We didn't have four of our first-choice bowlers against the Lions and we still competed so well.
"Hopefully some of them are back for the last game, if not it will be another chance to build on what we've been doing these last few games."
