Assistant boss Franks boosted by Whitby Town’s display in 2-1 home win against Ashton United

A penalty from Harry Green, followed up by Brad Fewster's tenth goal of the season saw Whitby Town take a 2-0 lead in the last twenty minutes, before James Baillie's last-minute free-kick earned the Robins a goal back, writes Paul Connolly.

The win was Whitby's fourth consecutive victory, and their fifth win in six games, moving them ten points clear of the drop zone, and within seven points of the play-offs.

And Franks was delighted with how his side took charge of the game from the opening stages, reserving special praise for Green and Malik Dijksteel, who created continuous headaches for the visitors.

"It was a good performance from the boys," Franks said post-match.

"We looked after the ball well, we didn't take chances in our own half, and we got the lively players in Malik [Dijksteel] and Harry [Green] on the ball to cause them problems in the right areas.

"When them two are on it, we're a different team. It's a matter of confidence with them.

"We don't want them coming too deep, we want them doing the damage in their third and that's what they did.

"On the whole as a team though, from the first minute we felt in control of the game.

"The second half was slightly different but after a few minutes we settled down and started looking after the ball, we retained it well.

"The only thing that was disappointing was the end product in the first half. Everything up to the final third was great but we couldn't get a way through. In the second half it massively improved and we created a lot of chances and got the reward."

The opening half of the match saw Whitby in control, without doing too much to force an opening. It would be the Seasiders who would have the first attempt of the evening. Lewis Hawkins found Shaun Tuton, though he could only blaze high and wide inside the box.

The Blues came closest to opening the scoring half an hour in, Priestley Griffiths' low effort was blocked by Matthew Regan, before falling to Josef Wheatley, who saw his low drive cannon off the left-hand upright before being cleared.

Just moments before the break, the visitors threatened themselves, though Regan couldn't keep his composure before flashing across the face of goal.

It was the Robins who would start the second period looking more likely to find the back of the net two. Jason Gilchrist glanced a header wide from a free-kick, before Jack McKay clipped the woodwork from the left-hand edge of the penalty area.

And the Seasiders were almost punished for a poor clearance, just after the hour mark. The ball came into the box to find Gilchrist, though his headed effort was cleared off the line by Coleby Shepherd.

The Seasiders were soon perked up, however, and had the ball in the net just two minutes later, though the offside flag was up against Tuton as Green tapped home at the far post.

Green soon got his chance to find the back of the net a few minutes later though, when a neat one-two between him and Dijksteel ended in the young Whitby forward being felled in the box. Green stepped up from twelve yards and just about got the ball past Andre Mendes to open the scoring.

And thirteen minutes later, the lead was doubled. Tuton kept the ball alive for Whitby, knocking back to Dijksteel. The ball was knocked into the area, with substitute Fewster arriving to glance a header past Mendes on the edge of the six-yard box.

With a 2-0 lead, and a gap of ten points opening up to the drop zone, 17-year-old Whitby lad Jos Storr was introduced for a competitive debut, to one of the biggest cheers of the night, and immediately got involved in the action, causing issues for Ashton's defence with a driving run, though it came to nothing.

The visitors pulled one back in injury time, James Baillie converting a 25-yard free-kick, with Bland not able to get enough of a hand on it to keep the ball out.