A superb defensive effort set up the result, led by last year's best and fairest Tim Jones and Dom Wild.

For the first time all season, the Spitfires didn't concede a single penalty corner and stayed patient with the ball as the game eventually opened up for them.

After a scoreless first half, Wild got on the board three minutes into the third quarter from a penalty corner.

The Spitfires missed a handful of opportunities to go further in front and took a 1-0 lead into the final term.

Despite some solid approaches from United, the Spitfires held firm and were rewarded with a second to Wild from another penalty corner three minutes from full-time.

Tim Smith put the result beyond doubt when he found the back of the net in the final minute to seal the 3-0 win.

Co-coach Tony Donnolley was very pleased with the effort.

"We're not usually the best at holding out a 1-0 scoreline either, especially with a few younger heads in there," he said.

"We've been known to throw that away previously.

"Credit to the boys, instead of holding off and being happy with the 1-0 scoreline, they pushed harder and ran them into the ground and piled on a couple of late goals.

"It's good to see."

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Donnolley praised the defence which didn't panic the entire 60 minutes.

"They marked up well and there was a lot more talk coming from 'Towney' (goalkeeper James Towne) which was getting relayed between Dom and 'Jonesy' (Tim Jones) and pushing down the field," Donnolley said.

"I don't know how many times Dom was that close to his opponents and just worried them off the ball.

"It was just basic stuff like that we haven't had in previous games.

"He (Wild) had a blinder with two goals and nothing got past him.

"It's always good having 'Ranga' (Andrew Monte) up front because you've got that older head there to control it a bit.

"He switched with 'Jonesy' and either way you've got two seasoned heads that don't panic.

"Noah (Erdeljac) was just everywhere, he was doing well in defence and you blink and he's up front trying to hit a goal in."

Donnolley agreed it was without a doubt his side's best performance thus far.

"We started going a bit long in the second quarter and were bypassing our midfield, so when we turned it over we were throwing it straight back into the congestion," he said.

"But in the third quarter we stopped doing that, held possession and made them do all the work.

"It was funny for me to see someone else cramping up when I hadn't even cramped yet (laughs)."

The ladder after round nine is: Central 22, Wests 21, Goulburn 15, Old Canberrans 15, Albury-Wodonga 13, United 7, St Patrick's 7, ANU 4.

Meanwhile, the Spitfires women recorded their second victory of the season with a hard-fought 2-1 result at Goulburn on Saturday.

Kate Reynolds finished with a double.

The ladder after round nine is: Tuggeranong 24, Old Canberrans 21, ANU 19, United 19, St Pats 13, Central 12, Goulburn 10, Albury-Wodonga 7, University of Canberra 7, North Canberra Eagles 0.