The Seasiders conceded twice within the space of four first-half minutes, with Jason Gilchrist's close-range header drawing the tie level after Stephen Walker had given Town the lead, before Ashton swiftly went ahead following Kielan Adams' deflected finish.

Whitby, who had won their previous three visits to Hurst Cross ahead of Friday's encounter, fell further behind in the second half following goals from Alex Byrne and Jake Charles in what was a difficult afternoon for Nathan Haslam's side.

Whitby did make the brighter start to the league outing with Daniel Rowe forcing a key save from Paul Cooper, with the Ashton goalkeeper preventing the Seasiders taking the lead in the opening exchanges.

In the 26th minute, Whitby took the lead through Walker's left-footed finish. After Cooper spilt Lewis Hawkins' cross, the bell fall kindly to Walker who calmly rolled the ball into the back of the net.

But Whitby were delivered a blow ten minutes later as Gilchrist levelled the tie. After Byrne was given time to line a cross up, the ball found its way to the experienced forward, who netted with his head from close-range.

In the 40th minute, Adams netted the hosts' second of the afternoon after picking the ball up on the edge of the box where he was given time to fire back towards goal after Ben Beals had only partially cleared.

Gilchrist almost added a third before half-time as the striker made a first-time connection with the ball on the edge of the area but he directed his volley into the side netting.

Ashton grabbed a third 12 minutes into the second half through Byrne as the winger was given the chance to score from the penalty spot, and he duly obliged, firing into the bottom right-hand corner despite Shane Bland going the right way.

In the 92nd minute, Ashton netted their fourth goal as Charles, introduced from the substitutes' bench, added more salt into the Whitby wounds by rounding Bland and slotting the ball home.