COLTS United showed it’s a force to be reckoned with after it thrashed Spring Gully in the Bendigo Amateur Soccer League’s division one championship clash.

The United line-up was down a goal after a low drive from Spring Gully substitute Alex Garvin squeezed through a pack of players on the Strathfieldsaye pitch.

Colts was soon back on level terms when a corner kick deflected off a defender into the net.

Colts then took the lead before the long break after Dylan Callaway was on the end of a long pass and beat the goalkeeper.

A red-hot United gained the crucial two-goal buffer shortly after half-time when Sam Gower’s strike was deflected past the keeper.

A highlight was the duel between Gully forwards Vinh Dang and Dennis Barnett against Adam Castleton and Lachlan Rampling.

At the other end of the pitch, Gower and Callaway led the Colts attack against a defence led by by Kerry Robinson and Alex Garvin.

The classy Gower struck his second to clinch a 4-1 victory.

Epsom had to scrap all the way before it drew away for a 3-1 win against Castlemaine at Chewton.

The Maine had most of the possession in the first half.

David Richardson was strong in defence and a passing move from defender to Olley Wardell to midfielder Tim Richardson was capped by a great goal by Ray West.

The Scorpions upped the pressure late in the half.

Epsom’s work paid off when Jimmy Angove passed to his brother, Peter, to strike the equaliser just minutes before the break.

In the second half, Castlemaine tried to retain possession in the midfield.

The Scorpions looked more threatening and put a lot of pressure on the Castlemaine defence.

Epsom youngsters Adam Crawley and Daniel Hill put in strong overlapping runs up the right wing and worked in behind the defence.

The ball was played out right to Hill and back to Peter Angove to score his second goal of the contest.

Castlemaine pushed forward and hit the crossbar three times, with West and Tim Richardson unlucky not to score.

The Scorpions capitalised on a defensive mix-up from which Cameron Harvey’s shot was saved, but he fired the rebound into the net.

A late goal from Strathdale on Kyneton’s pitch clinch a hat-trick of wins for the Blues.

After victories against Eaglehawk and Golden City, the Strathdale line-up was set for the challenge at Barkly Square.

Defences dominated, with Nick Watson and Xavier Clayton starring for Strathdale, and Shaun Bennett and Adam Nadin stopping a lot of the Blues’ atacks.

Nathan Sartori tested Rangers’ goalkeeper Chris Billinghurst from long range.

There were few chances in the second half.

Kyneton’s Simon Harman headed the ball straight to goalkeeper Jack Gwynn.

The Blues struck in the 87th minute when Nick Watson smashed a great strike after the Rangers battled to clear the ball from the penalty area.

Kyneton was awarded a penalty in the final minute of the contest.

The strike by Harman was brilliantly saved by Gwynn and the Blues celebrated.

Eaglehawk slammed three goals in the second half on the way to a 4-0 win against Golden City at Shadforth Park.

The Rams’ defence was under a lot of pressure, but held firm for most of the first half.

Jared Bennett, Brent Maddern and Damien Robertson teamed well for the Rams.

The Hawks finally broke through in the 28th minute when Colin Samuel’s lobbed shot just went over the fingertips of City goalkeeper Shane Greenwood.

After the break, the Hawks capitalised on a short lapse in concentration by City to score three goals in quick succession.

Colin Samuel, Ross Johnstone and Chris Hopley were all on target for the Hawks.

Late in the contest, Sean Tomlinson, Henry Robertson and Josh Prentice combined for a great run, but the shot hit the side netting.

Despite going down by five goals, Swan Hill put in one of its best performaces at Moama.

The Swans had a couple of early strikes at goal.

The classy Nathan Whipp ran onto a pass and beat the Swans’ defence for the opening goal for the Raiders.

Just on 10 minutes later the Raiders led two-nil after Will O’Sullivan struck.

A penalty shot for Moama sailed over the crossbar.

The Swans’ Paul Strugnell, Luke Caruso, Ben Sullivan and goalkeeper Todd Day answered a lot of the Raiders’ atacks.

Not long after the break, Whipp and Seb Hargreaves were on target for Moama.

The Raiders dominated possession, but were wasteful near goal.

Rob Philpott chipped the ball over the defence to Hargreaves for his second and the Raiders’ fifth of the match.