The Leeton Greens have closed to within two points of first place after picking up a commanding victory over West Wyalong at Ron Crowe Oval on Sunday.
Kirtis Fisher scored a first-half double, while a try each to Cameron Bruest and Josh Fisher saw the Greens leading 28-12 at the break. Cameron Miller and Logan Collins scored the Mallee Men's first-half points.
The Greens continued where they left off early in the second half as Josh Fisher got over for his second before the Mallee Men were able to hit back through Jack McCubben.
Daniel Watt and Hayden Philp scored late to wrap the game up.
For coach Hayden Philp it was pleasing to see his side find their consistency in two consecutive matches.
"We talked about having a good performance back to back, and I thought we did that," he said.
"We still made a number of handling errors and made it a bit hard on ourselves, but overall I thought it was a pretty good performance."
Philp felt their key to success was to keep everything as simple as possible.
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"I think that it showed that when we keep to simple footy, we play our best, so I hope the boys start to realise that," he said.
"Rather than scoring points off every play, we just have to build pressure, and the points will come.
"There was probably a 10-minute stage there where they were able to get a bit of momentum, and we were making a lot of errors and brought them back into the game.
"We were able to defend that and force some mistakes, and when we finally had it we were able to make the most of it."
The Greens win over the Mallee Men means the gap at the top of the table has closed to within two points, with then DPC Roosters falling to their first defeat of the season at the hands of the Black and Whites.
It is unfolding into quite a tight battle towards the top of the table, with the Greens only inside the top three by four points, with the Waratahs also starting to make their traditional late-season charge.
Philp will know that his side will need to maintain their current form if they want to maintain their position in the top three come finals time.
In this return from injury, Philp praised the form of Josh Fisher, who was able to hit the ground running with two tries and with the Greens still having a couple of key players on the sideline they will only be getting stronger in the back end of the season.
The Greens will have the bye this weekend to nurse any knocks, with Andriu Tagilala coming from the field with a head knock, before they return to the field to take on Waratahs.
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