The 19-year-old midfielder - who joined from Pickering Town for in the summer - scored his second Seasiders' goal, impressively firing home following a Luke Pilling mistake after 41 minutes to open his league account for the club in the fixture which also saw goalkeeper Shane Bland officially become Whitby Town's all-time top appearance maker with 485 caps to his name.

Neil Reynolds' side had carried an expected threat but the visitors created the better chances, with Jake Charles and Layton Watts going close to adding to the lead.

But in the end Dawson's contribution proved decisive - and set Gary Liddle's men up perfectly for their home return against Leek Town next Saturday afternoon.

Whitby started brilliantly, threatening inside the first ten minutes. Pilling had to make two vital stops very early on; the first was from Lewis Hawkins, who latched onto a loose ball on the edge of the area and thrashed a shot at goal which Rylands' number one did well to gather. Shortly after, Donald Chimalilo struck well, albeit off target from a tight angle.

It was an open, entertaining start and the hosts played their part too, with Alex Kimomya's pace on the counter attack. One neat move led to a sight of goal for Kiwomya 23 minutes in, but his low strike was well saved by Bland with his feet.

The hosts had an even clearer opening soon after when a corner had to be hooked off the line. Alex Nelson, one of Whitby's standout performers of late, was well positioned when Rylands must have thought they'd scored. Somehow, though, Nelson blocked the downward header from close range.

But as the half went on, Liddle's men began to click back into gear. The response saw Donald Chimalilo shoot into the hands of Pilling before Watts fired over from range.

Just before half-time the headline moment arrived. Pilling's poor clearance from goal was perfect for the talented Dawson, who place home his lob from 25-yards to the delight of the Town faithful.

Watts was involved in the build-up to Charles' attempt on goal shortly after, with the former slipping a pass through the Rylands backline for the latter, whose left-footed attempt flew into the side netting.

But just after half-time, Kiwomya struck the outside of the post with a low drive from the edge of the box which had Bland beaten before it ricocheted away. It came from Rylands' biggest threat on the day.

Rylands were on a nine-match unbeaten run and top of the Pitching In Northern Premier League so their early forays forward in the second half were to be expected - it took a timely Bland diving save to prevent Ben Hardcastle from curling in a low strike from the edge of the area.

The second half didn't flow quite as freely as the first 45 had for Whitby, and as much as 1-0 still felt like a precarious lead, there were still chances to come for the Seasiders in the final third.

Liddle sought to make the scoreline more comfortable by sending Matthew Tymon on in Hawkins' place, and introducing James Harrison for Charles, who had been something of a thorn in the Rylands' side.

A quick break led to Watts chipping a shot over the bar after finding space on the right, but another goal wasn't forthcoming.

Reynolds' charges tried to make a fist of it in the final quarter - but it was only really substitute wideman Harrison Woods who was able to find chance to muster a leveller, meaning Dawson's goal was all it took for the Seasiders to continue their own strong unbeaten run of just one defeat in the last eight league matches, subsequently lifting them into the league's play-off places.

There was still time for some late drama in second-half stoppage time as Hardcastle was sent off after being shown his second yellow card following an altercation with Watts. Whitby handled the situation well by avoiding any damaging repercussions themselves.