Jacob Gratton spot on for 10-man Whitby Town in dramatic last-gasp win at league leaders Radcliffe

The Seasiders were back in action after a 2-0 victory against Bamber Bridge the previous Saturday, writes Will Berwick.

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, 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 from Marske United, but fellow right-back Soni Fergus would keep his spot in the starting line-up after an impressive 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 hosts for a sustained amount of time with Bland yet again coming to Whitby’s rescue, refusing to give up his clean sheet.

The Blues defended like gladiators, throwing their bodies on the line when required.

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

Smith came 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 last man, leaving the Blues down to 10 men for the final moments of the game.

But straight after going down to 10, 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.