The Warriors held off a gallant Dennington to win 51-45 in the top-of-the-table showdown at Dennington Recreation Reserve on Saturday.

They trailed by a goal at quarter-time but led 35-33 at the last break and sealed the win with a late rush of goals — the most decisive period of the match.

The result has left Old Collegians as the only unbeaten side after five rounds. 

Dennington has a 4-1 record, while four others are a game further back.

“After last week’s game we sat down and had a chat about what we needed to do to give Dennington a red-hot crack,” stand-in Warriors coach Steph Townsend said.

“It came down to winning all seven positions and playing possession netball, go back to basics, keep our centres, put pressure on them. We did that very well.”

Townsend, who dropped 33 goals to earn the best-on-court honours, said the Warriors would take a healthy dose of confidence out of the match.

“Obviously we want to make finals. To get to a grand final is really good, that’s what you play for, to win a flag,” she said.

“At the moment beating Dennington today is good for our confidence.

“I suppose as a new team coming together, it was really good to put into play things we were working on and see where we’re at as a team.”

Centre Rachel Alderson and goal keeper Sara Lenehan were also among their best, as was recruit Lauren Aitchison, a former South Rovers premiership player.

“She played at wing defence the whole game. She would’ve got three or four intercepts which Soph (Ballinger) and I converted,” Townsend said.

“You can’t ask much more from a player than to do her job and she did it really well … she’s a really good pick up for us, she played a great game.”

Dennington coach Sue Fleming was disappointed with the result but upbeat about the performance.

“It’s given us confidence that we’re on the right track. We did everything we’ve been practising at training and did it well,” she said.

The second-year coach lamented a “five-minute defensive lapse” in the last quarter, which allowed the visitors to pull away.

“It was the first game we really had to play four quarters in and credit to Collegians, they did that. We had that lapse and a lot can happen in five minutes,” she said.

Katie Burt shot a game-high 37 goals while wing attack Rebecca Madden, goal keeper Sarah Jacobs and centre Victoria Davies were their best.

But Jess Haberfield finished worse for wear from a collision with Alderson, which left the Dogs goal attack with a “black and blue face”.