International and Blue Lake showed why they belong at the top of the ladder by recording some big wins in last weekend’s round of the 2022 Steeline Bendigo Bank Limestone Coast Football Association Senior Women’s season.

The Rangers travelled to MGA Park on Saturday afternoon in what shaped up to be a close contest between the second and fourth ranked sides.

The Lions have been struggling with player unavailability recently, but were boosted with the return of several key players which re-energised Scot Dickson’s team.

Centrals started positively and took the fight to its fancied opponents, which also suffered some concerns with Kendell Saffin and Aimee Brooks going down early.

Despite the far from ideal start, the Rangers were able to gain the upper hand due to the brilliance of Lauren Frost.

Frost put the Blues on the board with one of her signature long-range strikes.

The breakthrough opened the game up for Blue Lake as the hosts found it hard to find an avenue back in the game.

Frost teamed up well with her young teammates with many through balls keeping the home side’s defence on their toes.

Although Centrals was able to ensure the scoreboard remained at 1-0 when half time arrived, it faced an uphill battle.

A team already down on numbers lost its captain Kiah Connelly with an early ankle injury, plus Scarlett Creek which meant there was little left in the tank in the second half with no substitutions available.

The Rangers were at their relentless best, dominating the play and showed no mercy, putting the Lions to the sword.

After teaming up well with her sister Lauren, Chelsea Frost enjoyed some time in the sun scoring a hat-trick of her own.

In the crushing 5-0 win Blue Lake coach Sean Fulton thought the young guns made their mark in a depleted team.

“Injuries to Kendell and Aimee in the first half made the going tough for an already depleted Blues side and an even arm wrestle ensued,” he said.

“Lauren continued her stellar season and was responsible for several amazing through balls as we started to dominate the play.

“Maddi Peake played a fantastic game on the wing in her debut for the club, linking beautifully between defence and attack.

“Four Under 16’s in Brooke Gilbert, Pip Crewe, Chloe Lindquist and Kloe Gilbertson were all needed and they were able to more than hold their own.

“Our pressure and dominance were all over the pitch.”

Apollo might sit well above Millicent on the ladder, but for the second successive Saturday, the blue and white could not shake off the tricky opposition.

McLaughlin Park was the scene and the home team was determined to defend home turf, starting with plenty of energy.

But the visitors matched this intensity which gave fans a taste of the action to come.

Apollo went on the attack and tried to break through Millicent’s defence, but despite launching a few shots at goal, the net remained untouched.

Despite being unable to score, the visitors held the upper hand when the sides swapped ends after the hosts struggled to mount many counter-attacks across the scoreless first half.

This pattern continued as the game went on with Apollo pushing harder for the breakthrough.

But the more they pushed, the more they were met with stiff resistance from the Millicent defence, which showed a lot of character keeping out each attack.

With the clock starting to tick down, both sides started to tire and a 0-0 draw was the fair result after Millicent’s mighty defensive effort.

International made it 10 of the best by calmly compiling another comfortable win against Naracoorte.

Playing on the second pitch at Casadio Park on Sunday, Inter showcased its depth which covered the loss of some absent players.

It did not take long for the black and blue to link up well across all corners of the pitch to dominate proceedings.

The strong cohesion created just what International coach Ricky McRobert was looking for, three goals to put the result to bed early.

Inter continued to show intent after the break with the likes of Ella Doody and Isabella Morello looking particularly dangerous running hard down each wing.

Despite the odd frustrating moment, the black and blue had no issues finding the back of the net, increasing their 3-0 half time lead to 8-0 by full time.

Captain April Hockey, Evany Rex and Tess Andrews did the most damage putting away two goals each.