Jacob Gratton bagged his tenth goal of the season as 10-man Whitby Town held on to hand Radcliffe their first home defeat of the season.

The Seasiders were back in action after a 2-0 victory against Bamber Bridge the previous Saturday. This time, it was a difficult challenge away at league leaders Radcliffe who, coming into this game, had not dropped a single point at home all season.

The starting line-up saw Adam Gell return after his one match suspension following his sending off at Hyde United, while Aaron Haswell was handed the number nine shirt, with Connor Simpson dropping to the bench.

Prior to the match, Town announced that Connor Smith had joined the club on a permanent basis after a successful loan spell with the Seasiders from Marske United, but fellow right-back Soni Fergus would keep his spot in the starting line-up after an impressive defensive performance in the Blues' previous outing.

The first half display from Whitby would see them play in a largely defensive manner, but it worked as they limited the home side to very few chances.

However, when the home side did manage to break past the defence of the away side, Shane Bland would be there to stop them scoring with the Town goalkeeper pulling off some world class saves throughout the match.

In terms of the attacking side of play from the Seasiders in the first half, the front three of Haswell, Gratton and Junior Mondal, also worked well defensively, before allowing their pace to become an issue on the counter for the home side.

However, Whitby had nothing to show for their hard work and went into the interval with the score being 0-0.

The second half began and Whitby were put under the cosh by the home side for a sustained amount of time with Bland yet again coming to Whitby’s rescue, refusing to give up his clean sheet.

The defensive display from The Blues mirrored the second half of the Bamber Bridge game with the whole side defending like gladiators and throwing their bodies on the line when required.

Haswell would have a few chances of his own fall his way in the second half, but the home side would defend the Whitby attack well.

Smith would come on in the 68th minute to make his first appearance since signing with the club permanently, replacing Fergus. Lewis Hawkins also came off for Simpson who would add more of an aerial presence for the Seasiders.

Whitby's task looked to have gotten that bit harder when Haswell was shown a straight red after being adjudged to be the last man, leaving the away side down to ten men for the final exchanges of the game.

But straight after going down to ten, Whitby Captain Daniel Rowe was dragged to the ground in the opposition's box by Scott Duxbury, giving the referee no choice but to award the Blues a spot kick.

The man with ice in his veins from 12 yards out, Gratton, calmly converted the spot-kick past Mateusz Hewelt in the Radcliffe goal to give Whitby the lead five minutes from time.

As expected, the home side turned on the pressure but Whitby defended valiantly holding on to and taking all three points back to the North Yorkshire coast.