STOKE Gabriel & Torbay Police were the latest side to put rock-bottom Axminster Town to the sword in the South West Peninsula League.

The Tigers are yet to pick up a point and they have had some particularly rough results to date, Stoke taking full advantage and striking eight.

Matt Hayden, one half of the Bees’ managerial duo, had some very kind words for the opposition on social media the day after the game. He wrote: “The work and effort you guys put in and to keep going week in week ou,t I admire massively!

“Never lost the fight or belief yesterday… all the best for the rest of the season.”

Axminster responded with class too: “Thank you Matt. We are proud of the young lads’ resilience and commitment.”

As alluded to there, it can’t be easy to keep going every week when the results and the scorelines are as demoralising as they are.

Stoke were professional on the field all the same, Jesse Howe and Joe Aldous both scoring hat-tricks to earn joint custody of the player of the match honours.

Saul Vanes, another attacking player in a rich vein of form, netted the other two in this 8-0 victory at Broadley Lane. With six goals, five assists and two man of the matches in five games, Vanes was also named as the player of the month for October.

Paired with the 4-0 victory over Torrington AFC the week prior, Stoke are certainly looking strong at both ends of the field as they prepare to muscle their way into the conversation at the summit.

This, a seventh win of the season, has them in fifth on 23 points. They have a game in hand on third-placed Newton Abbot Spurs, two on leaders Bovey Tracey AFC and fourth-placed Cullompton Rangers and then three on Bridport FC in second, so there is plenty of scope for the landscape to shift as the campaign progresses.

Looking ahead now and Stoke will visit eighth-placed Middlezoy Rovers at the Ethan Berry Pavilion on Saturday, November 8, before then looking to get revenge over Teignmouth AFC at Coombe Valley on Wednesday 12.