Max Howells treble fires Whitby Town to superb 5-1 victory at Matlock

Nathan Haslam fielded a side that saw attackers Nathan Thomas and Junior Mondal return in place for Stephen Walker and Alfie Doherty, writes Will Berwick.

Coleby Shepherd was absent from the starting eleven as he nurses an injury, leaving Aaron Haswell to slot in to the left-back position.

Whitby started on the front foot, dominating proceedings from the get-go and they could even have scored after just 10 seconds when Mondal was presented with a big opportunity.

But it did only take four minutes for Town to break the deadlock as Howells smartly beat the offside trap to fire the away side into an early lead in the Peak District.

It didn't take long for the Seasiders to double their lead as Howells grabbed his second of the afternoon.

Priestley Griffiths played a short corner to Joe Wheatley, who had his effort blocked, before Howells was alert to slam the ball home at the back post.

The third goal came from the left boot of Thomas who won the ball up high in Matlock’s half and used his skill to cleverly curl the ball past Saul Deeney into the far corner as Whitby found themselves in dreamland.

The demolition would continue as Howells grabbed a first half hat-trick in the 42nd minute.

More high pressing from Whitby forced the home side into yet another mistake as Howells calmly slotted the ball past Deeney after being played in on goal by a Matlock man.

The second half proceedings get underway with Matlock, who couldn't really have played much worse than they did in the first half, getting a goal back through Tavonga Kuleya; a goal which was disappointing to concede from a Whitby perspective as they were carved open.

However, Matlock’s miserable afternoon would get worse as Whitby got an immediate fifth goal of the afternoon just a minute later.

It was Thomas on target once more as he bagged brace for himself after a combination of weak defending and poor goalkeeping from the home side.

The Blues could have had more goals on the day, but it ended 5-1 as they completed a quick league double over the Gladiators, having defeated them 1-0 at the Towbar Express Stadium early in March.

Reflecting on the game, manager Haslam said: "We dominated the game, we were devastating in wide areas, and our pace caused them all sorts of problems.

"We were good value for it, I thought the work rate from the boys was fantastic. We ground Matlock down.

"In terms of a football performance it was complete.

"Not only did we work hard and win our first and second balls, but the possession we had and the areas we exploited Matlock I think it was a massive pat on the back for all our players."