Axminster Town chairman Ray Self has spoken of how pleased he is with progress being made both on and off the Tiger Way pitch this season.

However, the Town chief is disappointed that the club were forced to cancel their South West Peninsula League Eastern Division meeting with Ilfracombe Town on the first Saturday of 2018, something he alluded to when he said: “That’s two home games at Tiger Way that we have lost to the rain and the reason behind it is not of our doing.”

He continued: “It is so disappointing to find that the pitch being too wet to play – both on Boxing Day and again this past Saturday - is down to one small area of the Tiger Way surface that is clearly suffering from the mounds of earth left by developers with the local housing. The water is draining down off the mounds into one particular area of the pitch.

“The patch that causes the problems is only a small percentage of the pitch – the rest of the turf was absolutely fine and it is so frustrating that this is happening now. It is certainly not something we have had to put up with before in our three years at Tiger Way.

“Both the Boxing Day game – and this first outing after the festive break – would have drawn good crowds to Tiger Way and its revenue streams we will not see again. Yes, of course the games will be replayed, but invariably on an evening when, traditionally, we don’t draw as big a crowd as when we play on a Saturday.”

The Town chairman is very pleased with how things are going on the pitch under the management of Jonny Hurford. Self says: “Jonny has really got us well organised now. We have a terrific mix of experience and talented youngsters.”

A clear strength at Axminster Town is the development of the youth section and chairman Self is very clear about why that section of the club is currently so successful.

He says: “Our club vice chairman Andy Hurford has worked wonders with the junior section and it is testimony to his fabulous efforts that we now have a regular turnout of 120 youngsters playing youth football in Town colours.”

One thing the Town chairman is keen to introduce for the coming 12 months is delegating more tasks to off-load some of the work his role as chairman demands. He says: “I am keen to try and give more help to Jonny as manager. What I would like to do is bring in one or two new people into the club to take on various tasks. There is little doubt that we are now moving in the right direction and I’d like to see that progression continue, arguably at an even greater pace. I am looking for the club to make progress in terms of the football pyramid and that means stepping up a level or two in the years ahead.”