Opener Phil Burge (88) led the charge for Exies, but too often the side's wickets fell in twos, preventing the visitors from crafting partnerships and batting Yenda out of the game.

Jessie Ryan (4-29) and Ken Turner (3-39) kept Exies to a score Yenda thinks it can chase down when play resumes on Saturday.

Yenda captain Shaun Stubbs said he was confident of victory, so long as his side kept wickets in hand throughout the chase.

"The match is pretty evenly poised, but with a few good partnerships we'll be in with a chance or at least get close," Stubbs said.

"To lose Vardanega within the first eight overs is pretty costly, he's been our leading run-scorer this season and it is going to put a bit more pressure on the other batsmen to step up.

"The highlight of the first innings was the bowling of Jessie Ryan and Ken Turner who both bowled full and straight stump-to-stump, which is why they did so well."

Exies captain Marc Tucker said the loss of danger-man Peter Vardanega early gives his side the upper hand to skittle Yenda on day two.

"Their main batsman is out and their runs really just came from swinging the bat and getting edges for four, which is the way they play, but they'll eventually get themselves out if we bowl a good line and length," Tucker said.

"Obviously Phil Burge did a great job, but it was nice to see Jamie Winkler get 46 because he's one of our best batsmen even though he hasn't put it together this year although this week he put his head down and batted really well for 46.

"We're losing back-to-back wickets because we're not working well enough to build partnerships and that's what we'll be focusing on throughout the rest of the season just steadying and building partnerships."