There were three Whitby changes from the side that drew 2-2 at Rushall Olympic the previous Saturday. Harley Dawson replaced Adam Gell, Alex Nelson came in for Nathan McGinley, and Jarrett Rivers started in place of the suspended Layton Watts.

The opening exchanges were fairly even, though Lancaster were the first to threaten after ten minutes. Jim Craig found space just inside the area but sliced his effort well wide of the target. It was an early warning that chances might come.

Four minutes later the Dolly Blues came under pressure at the other end. A frantic passage of play saw the ball ricochet around inside the Lancaster penalty area, with Lewis Hawkins and Matthew Tymon both trying their luck before the visitors eventually managed to scramble the ball clear.

As the half progressed Lancaster began to find their rhythm. Bobby Bjork tested Shane Bland on 32 minutes with a shot across goal that the Town 'keeper did well to gather low down.

The hosts then had to rely on their goalkeeper again shortly before the break. Sam Bailey slipped a neat through-ball into the path of Nic Evangelinos, who looked set to score, but Bland produced an excellent, well-timed save to keep the scores level.

That moment proved crucial, because just three minutes later Whitby struck. Picking the ball up on the left-hand side, Rivers cut inside and unleashed a stunning strike from around 20 yards out that flew into the top corner. It was a superb goal and sent Whitby into half-time with a 1-0 advantage.

The second half appeared to tilt even further in Whitby's favour when the visitors were reduced to ten men eight minutes after the restart. Bjork was shown a red card following a late challenge on Aaron Haswell, leaving the Seasiders with both the lead and a numerical advantage.

Despite that, the visitors continued to threaten. Evangelinos forced Bland into another save from a tight angle on 56 minutes, while Bailey’s long-range free-kick soon after was comfortably gathered by the Whitby gloveman.

Whitby had a golden opportunity to put the game beyond doubt in the 71st minute. Jake Charles met a cross with a looping header that crashed against the crossbar, and somehow Tymon could only steer the rebound wide. It felt like the decisive moment.

Just a minute later Rivers nearly doubled the lead, forcing a good save from Kelly before Tymon again shot wide again. When Dylan Moonan volleyed wide and Evangelinos chipped an effort off target soon after, Lee Bullock and Jason Kennedy's players should have known that the victory was not confirmed.

And the match did turn dramatically. With 79 minutes on the clock, Dylan Thompson struck a first-time left-footed effort to level the scores.

And then barely a minute later matters worsened in farcical fashion. Sam Collins squared the ball across the box, it struck the unfortunate Alex Nelson, and looped helplessly over Bland into the net. In such a short space of time, Whitby had somehow gone from leading to trailing against ten men.

They pushed desperately for a response. Aaron Haswell forced a smart low save from Kelly on 86 minutes, but the comeback never came.

And deep into stoppage time, Evangelinos raced clear and fired home from a tight angle to seal the result.

A match that should have been managed out instead descended into late chaos - a defeat not simply suffered, but a victory that was well and truly thrown away.