BATHURST City have taken a giant step towards guaranteeing themselves second spot or better in the women's Premier League Hockey competition with a 2-1 win over Souths at Bob Roach Field on Saturday.

A late goal to Emma Siejka briefly gave Souths some hope that they could earn a share of the points from a scrappy contest, but City were composed enough to see out the last 90 seconds.

Earlier Kelly Baker found the back of the net twice as City had the better of the contest, though Souths can at least take some positives from the fact that they were much improved on their performance from a week prior.

On that occasion they were bested 7-1 by Lithgow Panthers.

Still, the winners were deserving and City coach Lisa Quinn was delighted with what her team managed.

"It felt like we had most of the ball and most of the territory as well for the majority of the game, we maybe didn't create as many opportunities as we should have, but that's okay," she said.

"It took us a long time to earn a penalty corner, but we gave three or four away before that so we need to protect our feet a bit more in the circle and try and not give away so many. We made eight or nine circle penetrations before we got one ourselves.

"One thing we've worked on quite a lot is our forward press and I thought today that was pretty evident. We put their backs under a lot of pressure trying to get the ball away from their own end."

Quinn's assessment was close to the mark.

The likes of Jess Hotham, Casey Bayliss, Kelsey Willott and Baker were all heavily involved in not only trying to create attacking raids, but in pinning Souths up their own end.

After a quiet first 20 minutes it paid dividends as Hotham sent a good ball into the circle from out wide. Baker made a perfect turn to smack a bouncing ball past Souths custodian Kate Brown.

Having sent a good shot just wide in the 14th minute, Michelle Somers came close to levelling when her second penalty corner attempt looked goal-bound. However, Madison Tattersall got a touch on the ball and sent it over the top of the crossbar.

Nearing half-time it was Brown who was forced into action as she produced a freak reflex save after Hotham had a shot deflect off a Souths stick, and City went to the sheds with a 1-0 buffer.

Souths were on the attack early in the second half, but City quickly changed that. Brown was forced into three saves in the space of 30 seconds as her defence struggled to clear the ball.

The pressure started to build at that end of the field and eventually City found another crack as Baker scored her second field goal of the match.

Maddie Boyce tried to spark her side and forced Tattersall into another save immediately after the Baker goal. The intensity lifted visibly from Souths, but by the time Siejka's goal came, time was running out. The clock eventually won the battle.

Hotham was terrific for her side and her skills were on another level to most of the other players on the field, repeatedly creating trouble for the Souths backs.

Somers and Candice Falconer both did well to try and limit her scoreboard impact.

Baker was also strong for City, who now go a game clear of Souths plus goal difference.

BATHURST CITY 2 (Kelly Baker 2) defeated SOUTHS 1 (Emma Siejka)