The Dogs were too strong for Capital, winning 3-1 in Auckland yesterday. And on Saturday, the Dogs edged the Central Mavericks 1-0 thanks to a 38min goal from Joe Crooks.
The Dogs have a tough fixture against North Harbour today and play Midlands on Wednesday, before rounding out the round-robin phase with an easier encounter with Northland. Coach Dave Ross feels his side will need to pick up some points against Harbour and Northland.
That should be enough to secure a top four spot and give the Dogs, who have played in the last two finals, another shot at the title.
It is a tight competition but he is mostly pleased with how his side is tracking.
''Capital are a pretty tough side so that was a really good win,'' he said.
''So it was good for the boys to get back on track because we weren't very happy with [Saturday's] performance. Although we got through we needed to be a lot better.''
Ross said his side achieved dominance in the midfield through the two Nicks - Elder and Ross.
''They basically ran the show. And as usual our back three were very solid but we got some good go-forward ball through the midfield and that really gave our strikers a good number of opportunities.''
Nick Ross opened the scoring with a drag flick in the second quarter and the Dogs added a second through Kim Kingstone in the third period.
Capital's Gabriel Kepes pinned one back for his side with a deflection from a dangerous cross. But Southern responded with a third from Jason Dungey, who was on hand to knock in a rebound after Craig Smith's shot crashed into the goalie's chest and fell nicely for the opportunist striker.
In other matches yesterday, Midlands thrashed Northland 5-2, North Harbour got the better of Central 4-1 and Auckland beat Canterbury 2-1 in a tightly contested fixture.
On Saturday, Midlands beat Canterbury 3-2, North Harbour poached a late goal to draw 1-1 with Auckland but was defeated in the penalty shoot-out, and Capital claimed a 3-1 win over Northland.
