Whitby Town power to impressive 3-2 victory on the road at Atherton Collieries

Skipper Dan Rowe, pictured in action at home to Atherton at the start of the season, scored in Whitby's 3-2 win at Atherton on Saturday. PHOTO BY BRIAN MURFIELD

Rowe's close-range header gave Town the lead 19 minutes in before Mondal's sublime free-kick gave Whitby a firm grip on the contest, writes Liam Ryder.

Their continued pressure paid off in the second half when Griffiths added a free-kick of his own to put the Seasiders 3-0 up at the home of Colls.

Jack Evans and Enock Lusiama struck to give Atherton unlikely hope in stoppage-time, but it was to be Whitby's day as one of their most dominant performances of the season so far earned them a valuable victory in the North West.

Junior Mondal was on target in the win at Atherton.

It was a blistering start from Nathan Haslam's men at the Skuna Stadium with his side forced Colls back and Joe O'Shaughnessy was called into an early save, claiming Mondal's header.

And it was Town who took the lead. Following a corner, the ball was recycled back into the hosts’ box by Lewis Hawkins and captain Rowe was there to plant a header home beyond O'Shaughnessy into the bottom corner.

Right on the stroke of half-time, Whitby profited from a refereeing decision in their favour 25 yards out from goal and Mondal was able to fire into the top corner with a delightful free-kick.

It was a superb opening half from the Seasiders, who could have effectively wrapped up the game by the break but Whitby picked up where they left off after the restart.

Jacob Gratton had been denied by O'Shaughnessy before Whitby finally made it three with 71 minutes on the clock. It was another wonderful strike, this time from Griffiths, who placed a free-kick beyond O'Shaughnessy.

The final exchanges of the match saw Atherton pose a few more questions, and they managed to pull two goals back to set up a nervy finale.

Full-back Evans acrobatically found the net when a corner fell kindly to him at point-blank range in the 90th minute, before Lusiama's strike further raised their hopes of an unlikely last-gasp comeback.

But it wasn't to be for the hosts as a leveller eluded them, and the visitors soaked up their late pressure to make sure the three points would be coming back to North Yorkshire.