at The Enclosed Ground Three goals in the first 22 minutes settled a potentially tricky affair as YM move closer to securing a first runners-up spot in their 105-year history.
Whitehawk, who are sponsored by Brighton Brickwork, must have wished for a brick wall in front of their goal as an irresistible YM ran amock -in a vibrant first half performance.
Joel O'Hara's diving header in the seventh minute sent them on their way and David Odes' first goal for the club gave the visitors a two-goal
cushion.
0' Hara's second gave Whitehawk little hope of a comeback and a rare headed goal in the second half from Nick Flint killed the game off.
Tom Pattenden scored an 89th minute consolation goal but the points were never in doubt for YM, who stay second on goal difference with Chichester lying in wait should the Gorings Mead team slip up in their last three games.
"It was a good team performance," said YM manager John Suter "You can't really pick people out because everybody worked hard. The whole team had an input into it."
Those who saw YM's 2-I defeat to Ringmer felt they had been unlucky to lose, such was the quality of their performance, but Suter noticed one crucial difference.
"We took our goals well. We were fortunate with the David Odes goat, but that was the sort of luck that we did not get at Ringmer I never know what to expect with this side. We are so Jekyll and Hyde he said.
The omens did not look good as the YM players jogged out onto a hard, rutted pitch - the sod which they have struggled to negotiate over the last few weeks. But after the dust had settled, YM began to stroke the yellow ball around as well as could be -expected on the uneven surface.
The visitors kicked with the slope in the first half and got the perfect start in the seventh minute when O'Hara finished off an excellent move. Flint played the ball out to Duffield and the YM captain touched it past Matt Hill before sending over a low cross which O'Hara met with a diving header six yards out to send the ball into the top corner
Only Warren Buss' brave block denied O'Hara a second in the 13th minute but Whitehawk broke at pace and could have levelled though Pattenden. The club's top scorer, with 28, opened himself up nicely to shoot the ball across Jason Dumbrill but he got under the bail and sent it over the bar.
The visitors doubled the lead in the 20th minute, albeit with a little help from lady luck. Duffield's crossfield pass was intended to go much deeper but went square to Odes on the left wing. The mid-fielder controlled the ball and from 35 yards out delivered a deep cross which bamboozled Wayne Collins and mowed into the far corner "Once I hit it; I knew it was going in," admitted the goalscorer in the bar afterwards.
The hosts were stunned into silence and there was a surreal atmosphere when YM got number three two minutes later, O'Hara calmly slotting past Collins from 18 yards after a one-two with Flint.
Almost all of the action had been happening 80 yards from Dumbrill's goal but the YM keeper was alert when he needed to be, tipping over Hill's dip. ping shot after a short corner.
The goal blitz forced Whitehawk manager Ian Chapman into a change and he brought on forward Simon Rowland in a desperate bid to try and get back into the game and the reshuffle nearly paid off within a minute. Kevin Townsend played a diagonal ball out to Dean Venton who cut inside past Nathan Sleat, and fired a low shot which Dumbrill did well to parry behind.
Whitehawk's hopes of a goal early in the second half did, not come to fruition but they made life a lot harder for their rampant visitors. But the game was dead and buried in the 65th minute.
Duffleld challenged Collins for O'Hara's cross and the ball fell nicely to an unmarked Flint at the back post who had the relatively simple task of steering it with his head into an empty net.
It was game over, and the fact that Suter had time for a quick chat on his mobile a few minutes later -suggested he knew the same.
Pattenden pulled a goal back in the 89th minute when he clinically volleyed across Dumbrill but the game had been settled long before that7
Team: Dumbrill; Garden, Langridge (Andrews 82), Fenn, Sleat; Duffield, Potter, Oakes, O'Hara; Taylor (Hennessey 72), Flint.
Match Report