Five-star Whitby Town prove far too strong for Bishop Auckland in FA Cup

Aaron Haswell has a shot blocked by a Bishop Auckland player

Harry Green, Aaron Haswell and Marcus Giles were on target as Whitby Town got their Emirates FA Cup campaign off to a strong start with a victory over Bishop Auckland at the Towbar Express Stadium @ The Turnbull Ground on Saturday.

Lee Bullock and Nathan Haslam fielded as strong a side as possible against their Northern League counterparts - whilst captain Daniel Rowe watched on from the sidelines through suspension.

The Seasiders remain without a league win, but Bullock and Haslam will take plenty of positives from their first cup outing against the previous Town boss, Chris Hardy's, side.

Former Town man James Fairley started for the away side and he created the first opening of the match with a curling effort that went wide of the post from the edge of the area.

Hatrry Green scores for Whitby Town in their 5-0 home win against Bishop Auckland in the FA Cup PHOTO BY BRIAN MURFIELD

The visitors and perhaps should have taken the lead when Ciaran Banks broke into the box, only to see his low shot blocked by Soni Fergus.

But it was the Seasiders who went in front in the 12th minute when Shane Bland's quick ball forwards following a Bishop Auckland corner found Harry Green in a wide position. Green brought the ball down well, before turning his marker and firing low beyond another ex-Blue in Nick Liversedge in the away goal.

Some amongst the crowd thought that Fairley had equalised for the visitors, but his effort loitered in the side netting.

Whitby could easily have had a second were it not for the acrobatic Liversedge who palmed Aaron Cunningham's close range header away from danger after a corner.

Bishop Auckland keeper Nick Liversidge denies Harry Green but Marcus Giles scored from the rebound

And Town ended the first period strongly, with Aaron Haswell doubling their advantage as he shot low past Liversedge into the bottom corner from 18 yards out.

Bland did make an excellent save right on the stroke of half-time as he denied Louis Johnson from point blank range after the Bishops' number nine got on the end of a right-wing free-kick.

This was pretty much as good as it got for the visitors who had an uphill battle in the second half.

Just five minutes into the second half, the Seasiders added a third as Green ran through the visiting defence following substitute Luke Hogg's pass,

Whitby were creative throughout in their previous match against Marske United, only for them to draw a blank, but against Bishop Auckland they were clinical in a game where they created less openings.

Architects of their own downfall, the Northern League outfit gifted possession to Giles who released Green. His shot was parried by Liversedge with Giles on hand to tap with home with just his second touch of the game.

Green saw a goal disallowed, but he had his hat-trick minutes later as he rounded off the scoring, slotting home after great work from Jonathan Franks on the right wing who cut the ball back for Green at the back post.

Following their win in the First Qualifying Round, Whitby have been handed a home tie against Marske in the Second Qualifying Round.

The meeting between the two sides on August Bank Holiday Monday ended as a goalless draw.

The tie is set to take place on Saturday September 17 (3pm kick-off).

Subsequent ticket details will be released by Whitby Town this week.