Axminster Town win well at home to Dartington and Totnes

Axminster Town scored twice in the space of two second half minutes to deservedly bank the points in their Tiger Way South West Peninsula League meeting with Totnes and Dartington.

After dominating the first half – Jonny Hurford struck the frame of the goal twice – the deadlock was broken in the 70th minute when Hurford applied a clinical finish to a slick team move. Two minutes later scorer turned provider to set up Liam Cleal to complete the scoring. With 12 minutes remaining Town gave a first experience of first team football to 16-year-old Aaron Daniels who had scored four times for the club’s reserve side the night before!

The stand-out individual performance for the Tigers came from centre back Chris Duchenski.

Town chairman Ray Self said: “I felt we played some wonderful football in the second half and fully deserved the win. We reached good levels in the first half, but the second half saw us find a higher gear. The club is on the up, of that there’s no doubt. Last night we won the Exeter and District League Division Four title and now we have a highly satisfying clean sheet success for the first team.

“We are on the right road and I am feeling confident about the future. The key for me is the youth and I hope we can encourage the best of the areas young talent to come along and join us.”

The introduction, late on, of teenager Daniels, comes just six games after his arrival at the club! The youngster was an unused sub after his first selection for the club’s Reserve side. His second outing saw him make a dramatic introduction from the subs bench as he scored a hat-trick. He got two more in the next game and scored four times the night before his 12-minute cameo with the Tigers’ senior side on Saturday.