Axminster Town's long-suffering supporterss were given the best Christmas present they could expect on Boxing Day when the Tigers recorded only their third victory of the season with a much deserved win over Cullompton Rangers.

Axminster manager Josh Stunnell has always believed that his side had what it takes to move away from the relegation zone and into a respectable position in the highly competitive South West Peninsular Premier East Division.

And they certainly delivered in this Christmas fixture with a 3-2 win over Cullompton to lift themselves out of the bottom two with two goals from Tony Pinder and a strike from the former Bridport player, Dec Cornish.

With Cullompton in 12th place in the table on 18 points, the Axminster management team knew this was a fixture they had to win to kick-start their season and Boxing Day's victory should provide just the incentive for the Tigers to kick on.

It was a good all-round team performance with Stunnell choosing local lad Callum Garrett as his man-of-the-match.

The Tigers have only played 12 games and have fixtures in hand on all the teams above them which should enable them to narrow the gap if they can maintain the form shown yesterday.

Next Saturday (January 2nd) they have the perfect opportunity to do just that when they welcome Torrington to Tiger Way (kick-off 3 pm). Torrington are in 11th place in the table with five wins to their credit.

In their last game Torrington were well beaten 5-1 by leaders Torpoint so their confidence levels may not be high, providing Tigers with a realistic opportunity to continue their resurgence.