Uttley fired her double while Eva Reith-Snare and India Draper both nailed goals as well, the four-goal margin proving crucial in keeping Confederates' noses just ahead of Bathurst City on the ladder.

The two sides are deadlocked on 22 competition points but the Orange side's goal difference is slightly better, they're in the black with a positive two differential compared to Bathurst City's even zero for-and-against.

"When we play Zig Zag it is a very even game for whatever reason but I said to the girls they had to stay composed and if they played their game the results would come and that's what ended up happening in the second half," Confederates coach Fiona Reith said.

"Zig Zag always give it to us, they play right to the end but we were very conscious of that and we needed to respect how well they can play and we needed to play better.

"This was a really big game for us for more than the obvious reason that we had to make sure we win, and we did win and we won it well.

"We ran with the basic 11 here today and we got Lilly Erskine to come in from Dubbo, I thought it was a really good team effort.

"We also didn't have a short corner with us defensively so that's a really good result showing we had a lot of the play."

It was nil-all at half-time before a Confederates' flurry in the third and fourth quarters, Zig Zag vice captain Samantha Martin was largely pleased with her young side's effort, although she lamented missed opportunities and said fitness was a decisive factor too.

"We dominated that first half but our fitness let us down in the second," Martin said.

"It's a big improvement for our squad, we've come a long way. Our side has been coming out stronger every week.

"We had a good game, it wasn't the ultimate result but the Feds are a strong side, they always are. Feds deserved the win, they worked hard for it," she said.

"We just turned over too many balls to them, we had the opportunities but we just couldn't put it away."