Axminster Town were just three minutes away from a priceless victory that would have seen them avoid being this season’s South West Peninsula League Eastern Division wooden spoonists when University scored an equaliser to leave the Tigers forced to settle for a point and that unwanted tag!

Given the season that all connected with Axminster Town have had that late blow was probably simply ‘par for the course’.

On the plus side the 1-1 draw the Tigers got from the meeting with the students was a remarkable turnaround for the side for they had been beaten 7-0 by University when the teams had met just ten days before!

This has certainly been a season of toil for the Tigers, a fact lot lost on chairman Ray Self who says: “There is plenty of light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, we have been through the mill this season. The long delay in finally getting the keys to the new home at Tiger Way meant we spent the whole season having to play away from home and it’s to the great credit of the likes of Gary McCauley and the players that we have reached the season’s end having played all our matches. I know it’s been tough from a committee point of view, not knowing from one month to the next where we would be playing our home games, so for the players it has to have been very difficult indeed. Now we have proper access to Tiger Way we can plan what I feel is going to be a very exciting future for the club on and off the pitch.”

The new home for Town is certainly impressive and the main pitch at Tiger Way boasts floodlighting that is sufficient standard to grace Conference football! There’s a reserve team pitch and, although the originally promised third pitch has not materialised that might just be a blessing in disguise.

Self says: “The third pitch is not now part of the project, but the space that was to be used for that purpose is now set to hosts an all-weather surface that will allow the football club to embrace other forms of sport. It is certainly something that appeals to us as a club for it would become a source of income if we are able to hire a surface out to local groups and teams.”

The new ground at Tiger Way is set to see its first real action with the staging of the Axminster Hospital Cup final which will be played on either May 15 or 22. Axminster Town and Chard Town are the teams who will contest this years final.

Looking further forward Self is hopeful that the Peninsula League will grant the clubs request to launch a new league season with a Friday night match at Tiger Way. Self says: “That would be a very special way for us to launch a new era of league football at our new home. The Peninusla League officers have been so understanding about our situation this season. We are hoping some of them will be able to join us at the final of the Hospital Cup as it will give us a chance to say thank you to them.”