The Seasiders found themselves behind after 11 minutes when Joshua Vela opened the scoring for the visitors. Whitby's task became even tougher a minute later as Scott Butler doubled Warrington's advantage, leaving the hosts with a mountain to climb inside the opening quarter of an hour.

Warrington continued to press and added a third goal midway through the first half through Reece Daly. Denny Ingram, deputising in the dugout for the absent Lee Bullock, was forced into an early reshuffle as Marley Grant and Lucas Reed made way for Callum Hickman and Tommy Dowson after 21 minutes.

Despite the scoreline, Whitby looked to respond. Ben Turner forced Mateusz Hewelt into a diving save on 23 minutes before Muhamet Gashi tested the visiting goalkeeper from a long-range free-kick shortly afterwards. Turner then tried his luck from distance, but Hewelt remained equal to the effort.

At the other end, Jack Norton produced an excellent stop to deny Vela and keep the score down before the interval. However, the visitors struck a further blow in stoppage time at the end of the first half. After Lewis Earl had seen a free-kick comfortably gathered by Norton, the Warrington forward found the net moments later to make it 4-0 and leave the Seasiders with a daunting second-half challenge.

Whitby emerged after the break looking for a response and nearly pulled a goal back six minutes into the second period when Turner reacted quickest to a loose ball inside the penalty area, only to see his effort blocked. Stuart Rose then managed a shot on the turn, but it was comfortably held by Hewelt.

Ingram introduced Jack Kilpatrick for Gashi on the hour mark as Whitby searched for some sense of pride in this otherwise disastrous outing. The visitors continued to create openings, with Jack Goodwin unable to keep his close-range effort down as the chance flashed over the crossbar.

A route to get on to the scoresheet appeared to open on 66 minutes when Whitby were awarded a penalty. Rose, who was tripped to win the spot-kick, stepped up from 12 yards, but his spot-kick crashed against the crossbar and bounced away, summing up an afternoon where little went right for the hosts.

Earl later saw a free-kick deflect into Norton's hands before Whitby made further changes, with Adam Gell replacing Ben Turner and Callum Wilson coming on for Joey Phuthi during the closing stages.

The match became increasingly scrappy as cautions were shown to Luke Burke of Warrington, and Sam Kay, James Dillon and Kilpatrick of Whitby, but Warrington still had time to add further gloss to the scoreline. Deep into stoppage time, Daly grabbed his second goal of the afternoon to complete the scoring and secure a comprehensive victory for the visitors.

Whitby will now look to put the result behind them quickly as attention turns to the next challenge at Cleethorpes Town on Tuesday evening (7:45pm kick-off). Click here to book coach seats.