Dalbeattie were expected to provide strong opposition and in the first 20 minutes they held their own.

But from then on Whitley took control with some excellent passing and top quality goals.

Following a fairly even opening period, Paul Chow was denied after 20 minutes when his header from a left wing cross was deemed offside.

However, it took only another four minutes before he put Whitley in front after Lee Kerr's shot rebounded off the keeper and Chow was on hand to fire home the loose ball.

Eight minutes later, Chris Moore's cross from the right was pushed out only as far as Kerr who volleyed the ball into the net to make it 2-0.

A minute later it was three when Robbie Livermore chipped the ball over the keeper and in off the underside of the bar from fully 20 yards, a tremendous goal!

Whitley were rampant and just four minutes later Mark Minto was denied a fourth when his shot beat the keeper but crashed against the post and rebounded away from goal.

Just before the half time whistle came a superbly crafted goal, when Livermore brought the ball from midfield, played it wide on the right to Moore whose cross into the goalmouth was slotted home first time by Chow – an outstanding flowing move that cut right through the Dalbeattie defence.

One of the purposes of pre-season games is to give opportunities for as many players as possible to stake a claim for a first team place and several members of the reserve team were given a run out in the second half.

Six substitutions were made in the opening 20 minutes of the second period and this seemed to affect Whitley's play for a while, but within seconds of coming off the bench, Dean Porter added a fifth goal when he got on the end of a cross from Kerr to score from close range.

Twelve minutes from time Porter got his second with another close range effort to make the score 6-0.

Dalbeattie pulled a goal back with ten minutes to go with a shot across Burke into the corner of the net.

Five minutes later, the Scots got a second from the penalty spot to give the score a degree of respectability, but within a minute Whitley got their seventh when Lee Kerr curled a free kick into the top corner of the net from just over 20 yards, an excellent strike and reminiscent of many of his goals last season.

There was still time for another goal and it came when substitute Darren Reay's stinging shot was parried by the keeper and Mark Fenwick reacted quickly, sliding the ball into the net despite the efforts of the Dalbeattie keeper.

The previous evening, Whitley were in action away to North Shields but the game was abandoned, after 72 minutes, following an injury to North Shields player Karl Hanson.

It was difficult to tell how serious the injury was but the decision was made not to move the player until medical assistance arrived and quite understandably the teams agreed to abandon the game with Whitley leading 4-0.

Whitley fielded only four first team regulars in the first half - Darren Timmons, David Coulson, Lee Kerr and Damon Robson with the rest of the side made up of reserve team players.

Good play from Kerr and Robson set up Gavin Hattrick for the opening goal shortly before the interval.

Paul Chow and Robbie Livermore were among seven second half substitutes and after a goalkeeping error, Chow tapped home the second, with Sean Jobson curling a great shot beyond the keeper for the third before Michael Bradley got the fourth, crashing the ball home after the keeper had punched a shot clear.

Whitley were totally in control and more goals looked inevitable until the game was brought to a premature end when Hanson and Coulson challenged for a ball and the Shields man fell to the ground.

Whitley continue their preparations for the new season on Saturday with an attractive game at home to Manchester side Maine Road.

Next week, in another home game, the visitors are Unibond Premier League Whitby Town on Thursday, July 31.