Lynn inflicted 10-man Whitby's first away league defeat of the season and ended their recent woes at The Walks.

The Linnets had lost their last three matches at home but never looked like losing this one after Ibrahim Hassan was sent off mid-way through the first half. Even though Rob Duffy missed the resulting penalty, Dan Jacob's ninth strike of the campaign and Andy Hall's cracker gave the Norfolk club a well-earned half-time lead.

Dan Quigley made it three in the second period to move Lynn onto 20 points on a day where they also kept their first clean sheet since for almost two months – much to the relief of Gary Setchell.

Lynn's boss had promised changes after watching his side leak 16 goals in their last five games. And he made one on Monday by releasing centre-back Phil Gulliver. His place in the team this afternoon was taken by promising youngster Ryan Fryatt as the men in yellow looked to get back to basics. The suspension-free Quigley replaced George Thomson, who dropped to the bench, in midfield.

Whitby arrived with an undefeated away record and showed why by being compact early on. There was little action at either end until Adam Rundle got on the end of Lee Mason's cross and forced Alex Street into a brilliant reaction save. Lynn responded immediately with Hall having a half volley on the run stopped by the legs of Shane Bland.

The leaky Linnets, as some have called them, were pretty watertight. But their first wobble allowed Craig Farrell acres of space at the back post. Thankfully, his finishing wasn't as ruthless as what's been seen at The Walks in recent weeks from opposing players.

It was going to take a moment of magic, or madness, to break the deadlock with both sides giving no inch. Lee Bullock nearly provided it but his charge through the back of Duffy didn't result in the penalty it deserved. The moment of magic soon followed when loanee Jake Jones showed his undoubted class, again, in his second appearance by releasing Jacob with a beautiful through ball. It was a shame then that the frontman, known as Breezy, fluffed his lines and missed a sitter with his weaker right foot from six yards.

A better chance was quickly presented to Duffy – which he also spurned. Hall raced through and was bundled over by Hassan. As last defender he had to be sent off. But the former Wales under-21 international made a mess of his spot-kick and failed to score his fourth penalty in Lynn colours.

A brief melee – after Jones reacted to Dave McTiernan's tackle – further livened the crowd as Lynn looked to ram home their man advantage. Which they did by scoring two goals before the break.

Centre-back Jason Lee had a 35-yarder tipped over brilliantly by Bland before Jacob gobbled up his second great chance. Credit had to go to the man in the middle Martin Holmes for playing advantage in the build-up after Hall had been tripped in the box. The ex-Stamford man picked himself up quickly and squared to Lynn's top marksman this term who made no mistake.

The provider soon turned goalscorer when he lashed home an absolute peach from the edge of the box which flew into the back of the net via the inside of the post. It was the least Lynn deserved, for their dominance, and that's how the score stayed until the break, despite the best attempts of Graeme Armstrong. His curled effort on the stroke of half-time just drifted wide of Street's back post.

It was much of the same after the restart with the full of confidence hosts pouring forward in search of a third. Ryan Clarke and Gary Mills went close. Their team got lucky not to give away a penalty of their own – when Jordan Yong tripped Shane Henry inside the box – before going further in front.

Quigley played a delicious one-two with the always bright Jones and the fans' favourite lashed home the return – like Hall using the post to his advantage – to put Setchell's men in cruise control.

The rest of the game passed by fairly incident free with Steve Spriggs the only man going close to making Lynn's victory even sweeter.

Whitby even shanked an indirect free-kick from inside the box at the death to cap a great Saturday for all connected with The Walks outfit.

Lynn (4-3-3): Street, R. Clarke, Fryatt, Lee, Yong, Hall (Thomson, 65), Mills (Bunting, 60), Quigley, Jones, Jacob, Duffy (Spriggs, 50). Subs not used: E. Clarke, McLeish. Booked: Jones. Goals: Jacob (35), Hall (42), Quigley (57). Missed pen: Duffy

Whitby (4-2-3-1): Bland, Hassan, Robinson, Burgess, Bullock, McTiernan, Henry, Mason, Armstrong (Portas, 77), Farrell (Snaith, 68), Rundle (Mulligan, 68). Subs not used: Pell, Cook. Booked: McTiernan, Portas. Sent off: Hassan (24th min). Goals: None

Referee: M. Holmes

Attendance: 532