City went into the game at Bob Roach Field in third spot, level with Souths on points but one goal shy on for and against. They stayed in the same spot thanks to the victory.

However, with Dubbo and Ex-Services both suffering defeats, City's effort means that a significant 10-point gap has opened up to the chasing pack.

"That's a big result for us and now with the top three [Souths, City, Lithgow Panthers] to play each other in the coming weeks it will be interesting to see who comes out where," City captain Casey Bayliss.

"Dubbo like to smash it through the centre, but we were prepared for that and I think we shut it down quite well. The first time we played them they surprised us with it a bit and they got the win.

"We were pretty pumped for this one though, given that they're the only side who have beaten us so far this year."

Dubbo coach Craig Johnston was clearly disappointed after the game.

"Who was our best? Probably Lisa Hogan our manager. She had to sit there and struggle through it all, she's having a fight with cancer at the moment and still managed to make the trip over and do her job," he said.

"It wasn't bad luck. Bad luck is sometimes a reason for losing when you were in the contest, we were never in it today.

"We had a couple of players pull out last night and three are with the under-15s team in Lithgow for the state championships, so we were undermanned.

"City were fast, strong and determined and we couldn't keep up with them."

City scored early and late in the first through Kelsey Willott and Meg Booth to set up a 2-0 lead.

Dubbo had to be the first to score after half-time, but had no success. Instead City's Danielle Fisher made a good run to the circle before finding Bayliss with a pinpoint pass, the captain making no mistake.

With 15 minutes to play Dubbo did pull a goal back thanks to Emily Lake. On the back of that, the visitors enjoyed their best period of play and spent a good deal of time on the edge of City's circle.

But it didn't lead to any real scoring opportunities and with eight minutes left, Jess Hotham put a sealer on things when she scored her team's fourth goal.

BATHURST CITY 4 (Kelsey Willott, Jess Hotham, Casey Bayliss, Meg Booth) defeated DUBBO BLUE JAYS 1 (Emily Lake)