January Fixtures

Here’s our fixtures for the start of 2006. We have one cup match and three league games. With this in mind, January is a good month to rise up the league.Jan 8th
Dorset Junior Cup
Away to Kimberlin
(E.T and Replay if necessary)

Jan 15th
Hayward Div 5
Home v Mazars

Jan 22nd
Hayward Div 5
Away v Kinson Con

Jan 29th
Hayward Div 5
Home v Christchurch Royals

We need to be looking at winning all these matches to show the rest of the league that we mean business.

Loco stalwart to retire

Current Chairman and founding member of the club, Rob Frank, today announced his intention to finish his playing career at the end of the season.”This is something I’ve been thinking about for a couple of years now, and some of the lads for probably a bit longer!!” he told Loco-Net.

“I’ve always said that I didn’t want to play on for one season too many and either cause myself long term damage or end up not contributing to the side.

I still feel capable of contributing during a game and can just about get through the 90 minutes nowadays, but I am in real trouble for a couple of days afterwards. I guess 27 years of football catches up with you eventually.

I noticed especially when we didn’t play a couple of weeks ago how good I felt on the Monday and Tuesday and I just feel this year is the right time to bow out and leave it to the youngsters. I can only hope that we are able to end this season with either a promotion, the Dorset Junior Cup or both.

If the prospect of helping me win something in my last year spurs the team on then that is brilliant. I’ve absolutely loved my 4 years at Loco playing with old mates and a lot of lads who have become mates.

Hopefully the gaffer will let me stay involved next year. I’d like to help out with the training and tactics and I’m sure I’ll still put the dirty kit in the bag and fill the water bottles, as I do it now anyway!!

I think its best to announce it now so that now I have made the decision I can get my head down and just concentrate on the games and also it gives the gaffer the opportunity to plan his side for next year without me. If that means I sit out games this year while he does that then as long as it isn’t the Dorset Cup Final that’s fine!!”

Locomotive move into 2006

Lads, we are finishing 2005 in good shape. We’ve lost two league matches to better sides on the day, plus we’ve been knocked out two cups to the potential winners. However….

…as we go into 2006 I really feel every single one of us need to step it
up a gear. We’ve got a superb chance of winning a trophy in the Dorset Cup this
year. Meanwhile, in the league, we’ve only played four games, but on our day
we can beat any team in this league. Last season many teams slipped up against
Christchurch Royals, yet we dicked them both times - we need that spirit to
return to the squad for next year.

I’m not trying to pretend to be a manager, but I reckon just a few things need
to be adhered to in 2006 - I’ve spoke to my old man about what he thinks about
when he sees us play, and I reckon a lot of the stuff he says is right. First
things first…

Communication

As Paul said, a number of players have noted in recent games that there has
been a lot of criticism during matches which is pretty unconstructive [I know
that I've done it]. It needs to stop now. We need to work as a team, trust-each
other, talk to each other, put your name on every pass, tell players where you
want it, give them instructions of where you’re going to go.

There seems to be a lot of frustration with players making incisive passes
into space, and then they get pissed-off when the player intended to pick the
ball up hasn’t moved into that zone - then comes a load of aggro. All this can
be made simple by communicating. Although it’d be nice to think that we’re all
psychic having played together for years, we aren’t - this is Sunday football
lads. By the way Salva, I don’t mean any of this ‘take’ or ‘my ball’ crap!

Cutting out the Killer Passes

We’re all guilty of it - we try to find the perfect ball every time to our
strikers which has a 5% chance of succeeding, however we opt to do that rather
than find a short pass wide which would be more successful. Obviously, sometimes there aren’t the options made available to the defence from the midfield, so
that is their only option. Similarly, there are times when we NEED to go direct
and just loop a ball over the top.

However, often I find that playing the killer ball often means that the midfield
are missed out, and from the resulting ball, there is a massive void in the
middle of the park between defence and strikers - therefore one of the occasions
where the ball does reach our striker, there is rarely a midfield to support
them. Then, when the opposition regain possession, it’s pretty easy for them
to cut through us, as they’ve got acres of space to move into. If we moved up
the pitch as a unit, this wouldn’t happen.

On Sunday I tried to encourage Bomber and Kenny and others not to run away
from the ball when players like Mike or Stu had it, but to instead come back
and offer to pick the ball up from defence via a short pass. Every midfielder
at the club has the ability to keep hold of the ball, and if there is a man
up his arse, he can always lay it back to defender again - one touch. That said,
obviously we’ve got to take a few gambles when we play, but I reckon we should
just play the ball easy [he says - just watch me on Sunday].

Flicks

Only do flicks when we’re 4-0 up and
we can afford to showboat. Flicks look good, but when you’re playing on pitches
which are the smoothness of a landfill site, they hardly ever work. It’s much
easier just to get possession of the ball first and then dispatch it, but sometimes
I see players [again, including myself], that try to do things with the ball
even before its reached their feet.

I’m pretty sure 90% of the "flick" techniques involve the player
not actually facing the way the ball is being played, so I don’t know why we
do it. Lets just get the ball down on the deck, and play it back if you have
to - we should all be able to trust each other enough to be confident in each
others ability.

Listening

I think as a team we all like to dish the orders but not listen/adhere to them.
No-one is better than anyone else for Loco, we’re a team - Paul is the one who
calls the shots. He’s in the best position to see what’s going on all over the
pitch. Most of the time Paul will tell you direct, but sometimes he gives "orders"
through me. Then there are times I say things and Paul says "I take your
point, but No Dave!" - in which case we obviously follow suit.

I remember one game last season where Paul was saying one thing, and another
player was telling me to do another (no names mentioned!) - this made it difficult! We need to all be
singing from the same song-sheet, therefore if you do have anything to say,
say it before the game or at half-time, as we’ll talk about it as a team and
decide the best solution.

If we all club together this season, we’ll definitely be winning one trophy,
and there could also be a good chance of promotion too - at the moment it looks
like one is more likely than the other - but we’ve got to really put the hard
work in now, in what could be Loco’s most successful season ever.

Loco head for Germany

Loco today confirmed their presence at the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany. Along with Ronaldinho, Zidane and Rooney, some of the finest players to grace the Loco shirt will also be at the event.Rob, Salva and Bomber, together with little Ryan and Mrs Salva will be flying the Loco flag in Germany this summer in an event seen worldwide by hundreds of millions.

Look out for the lads and their AFCB Loco flag at the opening game against Paraguay in Frankfurt. You may not see it as we haven’t actually got any tickets yet but if not, look even harder and you’ll see us dancing in a fountain in front of a giant screen.

Rumours abound that secretary Steve Phillips is also looking in to travelling for some of the tournament. Currently Salva and Mrs Salva are heading our for the group games with Bomber, Rob and Ryan flying back after the Paraguay game and hoping to go out for games later in the tournament too.

Photographs of PTLC vs Loco

Ferndown Locomotive had its Official Photographer at the game on Sunday at Turlin Moor, capturing some great photos of our 3-0 victory in the Dorset Cup.Please wait five seconds to be
re-directed to the Media Gallery - this is
where we put all our photos you see!

Five…

Four…

Three…

Two…

One…

Or click here!

Tug and Rob see Loco through

Locomotive progressed to the Quarter Finals of the Dorset Cup on Sunday as they beat Parkstone Trades and Labour Club 3-0, with two from Tug, and a penalty from Rob.

The game ran pretty smoothly on Loco’s part - we had the bulk
of the possession, were playing some reasonably good football, however we simply
couldn’t produce the finish. In the first half we were reasonably good, however
we were guilty of standing and watching at times - both in attacking and defending.
At times we were too insistent in attacking route one - although it’s direct,
it doesn’t give us time move up the pitch as a unit - so no wonder we weren’t
getting players into the penalty box. This meant that Jamie and Tug were getting
isolated with the wide-men Kenny and Sam not getting up and supporting them.

We had opportunities to score in the first half, with Jamie blazing over the
bar twice, and Tug having an excellent header saved, and then another awesome
shot stopped by the keeper - even Bomber got in on the act - when doesn’t he.
The game was very
much on the right-side throughout the half, and Mike was putting in some good
crosses, and Kenny was very effective too, linking with Jamie, however, even
though we were persistent, we couldn’t find the break-through.

Amongst the Loco football, the opposition did manage to break away twice towards
the Loco goal, but it was a mixture of solid defending from Stu and Rob, and
a good save from Salvatori in goal (without the crap pink outfit) that kept
the clean sheet.

Towards the end of the half Sam was through on goal on the left side, however
couldn’t get his shot away, ripping up more turf than anything else, and the
ball went wide. Half-time: PTLC 0 - 0 Ferndown Locomotive

The second half was much better, people were more calm, playing balls into
feet, and for the first time the Loco midfield actually looked like they wanted
the ball - players were coming short to give the defenders an easy pass - it’s
so much easier playing football by utilising the midfield rather the missing
it out. This made the half a lot easier for all, as we attacked and defended
as a unit.

We went 1-0 up in no time, the ball was played out to the left side, where
Tug picked up the ball, ran square, and then managed to get an angle and he
hit a superb right footed shot into the top-right hand corner, and awesome awesome
finish from one of the players who deserved a goal more than anyone.

Ten minutes later Loco scored the goal of the game, it was an excellent move
which saw the ball played forward to Jamie Frank, who nodded down square to
Dave, who then knocked the ball across the park to Kenny, who attacking his
defender on the right, playing the ball square into the feet of Tug who finished
coolly, with a good side-footed finish into the left corner of the goal, past
the stranded keeper.

And then it was three, some good flowing football again, and Dave played a
little through ball to Tug, who turned, and got lumped over by the PTLC defender,
resulting in a penalty. Rob Frank dispatched the penalty with an awesome side-footed
strike with his left foot, which went post and in - he couldn’t have played
it any better - although it was an individual spot kick, it was a well deserved
“team goal” just for the good football that proceeded it.

With twenty minutes left, Loco saw the inclusion of Will, Darren, and Andy
- all of them getting really stuck into the game, some good touches shown by
all, and especially Andy was getting his foot on the ball and laying it square
and moving on. Through Hot Rod, we nearly had a fourth when he played a good
ball into the box, however the finish was not quite up to the standard. Dave
moved into centre-midfield and got hold of the ball increasingly often, and
him and Bomber worked well - Kenny on the right was being used increasingly,
and was his involvement that nearly led to a fourth, but whoever had the shot
from us, hit it just wide of the target - pretty unlucky. The final whistle
blew without any added time, and Loco went off the pitch 3-0 winners. It was
a god performance - some more consistency needed in parts. There was some laziness
on show, with players not tracking back, blind passes, and trying do flick-ons
even before we’ve actually got the ball under control etc! However, the result
should be a confidence booster - as next week we have a tough league game against
Oacis, and then the next round of the Cup is immediately after the New Year.
Final Score: PTLC 3 - 0 Ferndown Locomotive

Pictures from our Official Photographer Scott Mountifield, more of which can
me seen in the Media Gallery here.

Kendal Mintcake - The Diary

The Loco Christmas Meal on Friday was a great occasion for one and all, and I have diarised it for the lads who couldn’t come. I hope you enjoy what I have to say - Kenny.08:30 Woke up.

08:35 Did my hair.

13:35 Finished my hair.

13:45 Thought of Westy.

13:50 Got in the car - had to climb through the window though as the door is f**ked.

15:20 Car finally moves, it is increasingly reminding me of ‘Brum’ every time I use the damn thing.

15:30 Driving around now, I fancy tuning into some top music but I have to make do with listening to the Shipping Forecast on Radio 4 Longwave, as my stereo doesn’t have FM.

16:00 Park car.

16:10 Think of Westy.

16:20 Go to Poundstretcher to buy my Secret Santa - ended up buying some hair gel.

16:40 Went to Lidl - found a great gift for Secrert Santa there instead - bastards asked me to pay 10p for a plastic bag though, so I ended up shoving it up my jumper and tucking it in - felt a tad cold against my skin though.

18:40 Getting ready for the meal now, sorting out which of my white ties will go with my black shirt.

19:40 I find a hair out of place, I use my gel to sort it out. I get a lift with Andy and Briony to the Nightjar - thinking about how the seating plan is going to be arranged in the restaurant.

20:30 Was going to opt for a Bacardi Breezer but feel more manly getting a Pint of lager (with lime).

21:30 Very annoyed that Sam didn’t organise me and West a separate table - very tempted to complain.

22:45 I receive my Secret Santa gift (which I later find out was purchased from Jon off EBay). All it was, was some hair gel (typical as I got some today) and some ‘Kendal Mintcakes’ - really original that.

23:55 Went to town with Andy and Briony, and chucked Jon’s gifts on top of one of the German sheds in the square as I thought it was shit. Was very impressed at the audacity of Briony though, who, rather than pay £1.70 to put her coat in the cloakroom, paid the woman with the box of Roses that she was given at the meal. Am starting to wish I didn’t dump my mintcakes now.

00:50 Some bird texts me and asks me to meet her in Toko, so I leave.

01:10 The bitch isn’t there.

01:30 Leave Toko, feel a bit hungry, climb onto the top of the shed to get my mint-cakes back.

01:40 Walk home.

01:55 Think of Westy. Goodnight.

Debutant makes brief showing

Locomotive have a new recruit in the shape of striker Jamie Frank, brother of Chairman Rob, however his first (not really) appearance for the Red and Blacks was shorter than expected.Indeed, he turned up at 9.15 and disappeared at 9.30.

Probably one of the shortest ever Loco debuts, however rather than any stereotypical ill-discipline that would be expected from 99% of ‘new Locoboys’, the reason he came and went so quickly was due to the postponement of our Dorset Cup fixture.

We were due to be playing Parkstone Trades and Labour Club in the Dorset Cup, however we were informed at short-notice that the game was being cancelled because of an unplayable pitch. Bugger - I was looking forward to it as well, as was Steve (pictured after the news).

This therefore now means that next week, which originally going to be free, is now probably not, as the cup match will almost certainly be played straight away. PTLC are due to be competing against the Athelstan Arms at Iford that week in the league - so this will cause fixture confusion for the side.

If this Division Seven match isn’t re-arranged though, it could be deemed appropriate that Loco will send a couple of moles to spy on the tic-tacs of our cup opponents.

More news on this later…

Loco go out to QPR

Ferndown Locomotive played QPR on Sunday at Strouden Park in the Quarter Finals of the Brivati Cup, however went down 2-0, with a goal scored in either half.It was a strange old match, and Locomotive really should have got something out of it. Although respect should be given to QPR for playing some decent football, the away side really did have the players and skill available to dispose of the lower league outfit - however it wasn’t to be.

Loco really didn’t have that many opportunities on goal throughout the game, apart from an excellent chance on the 40 minutes when Sam couldn’t connect to a great bit of play from Tug - if he managed to get his foot on it, it would have been a certain equaliser, as QPR took the lead on 22 minutes.

It was an excellent individual bit of skill that saw the home side take the lead, as a ball was pumped forward to their tall striker, who controlled, lifted the ball over the head of the shadowing Loco defender, and then calmly looped the ball past Terry in goal.

Other than that, the home side didn’t really pose that much of a threat on goal, and Loco were starting to feel their way back into the game. We were getting a lot of room on the right, and Tug was very strong up front and was winning a lot of praise from home and away players alike, however, even with him in good form, the rest of the team didn’t really match the weight of the task, and the half fizzled out with Ferndown walking off the pitch disappointed. Half-time: Queens Park Rangers 1 - 0 Ferndown Locomotive

The second half was a bit of a blur really. Much of the game was played in midfield, with Sam and Tug up front not really seeing much of the ball. It seemed like the home team were simply happy to soak up possession where they could on the pitch, and every so often, they’d put a through ball to their striker, who would have a go, however Terry was ‘All Gold’ between the posts, and was having a sublime game.

Indeed, the Flying Pig (pictured) made a few telling contributions to play, including an awesome goal-kick which nearly put Tug straight through on goal - however even he was unable to stop QPR’s second, as their striker beat the off-side trap, and slotted home after a one-on-one with the Loco Number One.

As the clock ticked away, the likeliness of Loco scoring looked increasingly bleak, and it was clear that we were not going to muster anything from the fixture. All eyes are now on the Dorset Cup - which we, as a club, should be expecting to win. Full-time: Queens Park Rangers 2 - 0 Ferndown Locomotive