Hornets sting Locomotive

Locomotive finished their pre-season campaign on Tuesday against White Heather Hornets at King George. Loco lost 5-2, with goals from Andy Savage and Dave Hutchins.The game started very poorly for Loco, with the young opposition being very quick off the mark. White Heather, who play in the lower division than Loco, could easily forge a title campaign if they keep the bulk of their squad intact.

In amongst their general domination of the first half, there were few chances for Loco, the main one coming when Keith Jackson inserted some pace on the right to swing in a great cross, however the finish couldn’t be applied.

On the contrary, Heather scored two quick break-away goals - where their pacy strikers managed to peel away and slot home on both occasions.

This score-line was a bad reflection on stand-in keeper Dan Smith (pictured right), who had a wonderful game between the sticks - he really did well, and pulled out some blinding saves.

Loco were playing 4-2-2 throughout this half, as has been adopted throughout the pre-season. Unfortunately though, the two strikers of Andy and Ali up-front weren’t getting much service, as the ball came back as quickly as it went forward.

Half-time: White Heather Hornets 2 - 0 Ferndown Locomotive

The second half was better, with Loco generally running the game. We were stronger, finding space, however still were being naive when Heather were breaking away. Never-the-less, we notched two goals within ten minutes - and really, we should have scored more, as our possession warranted it.

An instinctive touch from Dave Hutchins, and then a firmly struck penalty from Andy Savage levelled the match at 2-2, but then ten minutes of madness followed, which was enough to see White Heather take the plaudits.

Three goals were scored, including one excellent left-footed lob from their young lad up front - which put the game out of sight. Even the introduction of Kyle couldn’t trigger any sort of come-back, however, it was good to play a half-decent side - and this will stand us in good stead for the real McCoy next week.

Final Score: White Heather Hornets 5 - 2 Ferndown Locomotive

Locomotive in seventh heaven

Locomotive beat AFC Pulse 7-1 at Ferndown in Sunday, with four goals from wonder-kid Kyle Eaton - just the confidence booster we needed after two early defeats.Ferndown started and ended the game using a solid 4-4-2 formation, with Steve, Stu, Cash and Lee across the back; Chris, Keith, Sam, Andy Savage across the midfield; with Ali and Kyle up front.

Loco took the lead early on into the game against the SWEA League based side, and it was a superb lob from Ali which did the business - after a through ball put him in on goal.

Pulse however equalised soon after, as they managed to break the off-side trap to get through on goal, and although Barker produced some heroics in goal, their striker managed to finish cooly to make it level.

Soon after it was the Kyle Eaton show, with three fantastic goals, all of them coming from the left side of the pitch.

The first of them came when the young nippy striker was put through on goal with an incisive through ball, and he managed to place it past the oncoming keeper and into the empty net.

Goal number two for Kyle was very similar, and once again it was a cool finish - however goal number three particularly stood out, as he used a lot of strength and agression to see off the physcial challenge from the Pulse keeper - then he rounded him, and put the ball into he back of the net.

Even though we were 4-1 up at half-time, the scoreline flattered us, as we were not really playing to our full potential. Keith once again was a dynamo in midfield, and Luke too came on, and was an inspiration in right midfield - however, we simply weren’t making the game easy for ourselves.

Aside from Kyle hitting the bar, and a few other wayward shots over, there wasn’t that much else to report from the half.

Half time: Ferndown Locomotive 4 - 1 AFC Pulse

The second half was much better - more relaxed, more flowing football, but probably an over-eagerness to score too much, as we were caught off-side more times in this half than we probably will be for the whole of next season. We really just needed to play a bit of keep ball, and in the end we started to do this.

There were some really positive moments, and two of those moments co-incided with us increasing the goal tally. Firstly, a great bit of play from the right resulted in a shot against the Pulse keeper which was saved, and then Dave (not Sam) calmly struck the ball home into the net in what could have been easily put into the sky.

Then moments later, Luke scored - a great effort, hitting the ball with his left peg past the stranded keeper in the corner of the goal from distance - wonderful suff and a well deserved goal.

Then Mellor nearly got on the scoresheet again, as, after some twisting and turning earned him some space from distance, he looked up and struck a sweet left footed strike/lob, but it came off the angle of crossbar and post and back into play - an awesome effort.

It could have been seven on 75 minutes when Sam had some space to square to Dave, whose shot was saved - but fear not, the seventh goal came, and it was Kyle that got it - jinking and jiggling, and then securing the space to power home a low right footed strike into the net.

A good performance in the end, but nothing compared to what we’ll need to do on Tuesday if we’re to beat the Heather.

Final Score: Ferndown Locomotive 7 - 1 AFC Pulse

PS: For the purposes of match reports this season, Sam Davis will be called Sam, and not Dave. This will just make things confusing!

Blandford take the glory again

Goals from Kyle Eaton and a spot-kick from Andy Savage were not enough for Loco on Sunday, as Blandford Town FC came away with their second consecutive win against the Loco.More concise details will appear here in due course - however, in a nutshell, despite the wind and bobbles at Ferndown Sports Centre, Ferndown Locomotive lost 3-2 to Dave Watkins’ men.

Blandford Town won the game with an excellently taken free kick. As Dave from Blandford said, “I think we deserved it overall but chances at either end could have gone either way”. He continued, “I was quite pleased seeing as our keeper yesterday was one of our best strikers!”

Blandford too start their league campaign in September, and we wish them the best of luck. Pre-season can always be a bit of an odd one - when Loco won the league a couple of seasons back, we lost ALL our matches in July and August. As Dave says: “That is what pre-season is all about, everyone having a game and getting some fitness”.

It was a better performance from Loco after a bit of a nightmare on the Thursday, and the result, although not the best, is not important. We’re looking forward to it immensely. Remember pre-season traiing continues on Wednesday nights if we do not have a mid-week game - so be at Ferndown King George at 7pm!

Ferndown Locomotive 2 - 3 Blandford Town FC

Pre-Season kicks off for Loco

Locomotive kicked off 2006/7 season on Thursday with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Portcastrian FC, from the Hayward Saturday League, with Sam Davis scoring the home team goal. It was a very jaded performance, especially in the first half, but given the fact that we had numerous new players in the team, it was a game where we just needed to learn how we’re going to gel - and more importantly, for Paul to figure out what formation we’ll be playing in the forthcoming season.

As shown in pre-season training, Keith was very dynamic in midfield, being a good ball winner and an excellent playmaker.

Similarly, Andy Savage at the back looked very strong, and extremely confident.

Elsewhere on the pitch we had Simon playing in the unusual position of left-back, however it was a position he got to grips with very quickly - combining with Sam on the left at numerous opportunities.

Sam had a lot of joy getting some space on the left, but the unfitness showed as his last touch as he approached goal, was usually a knackered one!

Portcastrian were an organised side. No frills, however they did play some good football, and at times made the Loco midfield seem very lost. Although we dealt with them well at times, our football left little to be desired, and it was two moments of madness that let the away side in to score two goals towards the end of the half.

Indeed, it could have been three, as they were awarded a penalty, however the spot kick was palmed away stupendously by the hands of Sean Barker.

Loco played 4-3-3 in the second half, and really, ran the game. The away side did have a few chances, but as the game went on, the team in red and black were finding numerous chances to score, with Andy nearly notching, Cash hitting the bar, and also shots too from Ali and Sam.

Indeed, we thought we were back to 2-1 when Andy was put through, but the off-side flag was raised, which meant his confidently struck right foot curled beyond the keeper, was not allowed.

We did have more luck later in the half though, as ten minutes from the end, Sam was put through from an incisive ball by Simon Candy, and Sam went on to meet the keeper, and dink it over his head and into the net.

An interesting game, with lots of talk about. It was the first pre-season game, and there were a few disagreements in the first half - but these were ironed out, and there were times when we really showed what we could do. Roll on September!

Final Score: Ferndown Locomotive 1 - 2 Portcastrian FC

Google Adsense on Locoboys

Ferndown Locomotive has always been an innovative club, and now, our web-site sports Google Adsense in order to bring in extra revenue for the team.Some look at Google Adsense as being bloody annoying, as pages can often look tawdry with their introduction - however we’ve tried to merge them in to the site, so that they are not obtrusive, but are clear enough so that people might possibly want to click on them.

Adsense is a scheme which anyone can sign up to, and you merely place adverts on your web-site, and every time one of them is clicked, you earn money - simple as.

Although we are incredibly surprised that we get roughly 100 unique visitors onto a site like ours, we think it’d be criminal to ignore the chance to capitalise on these hits, so therefore the adverts are here to stay - believe me, they are worth having.

Locomotive T&D, as we were once called, started off as a tin-pot organisation, with Rob Frank and co scraping together a number of crap balls, dodgy kits, and even worse players. However, as even Rob now can admit, the club is in its best position for a long time - mainly down to the fact we now have a treasurer who has a money box! With the money generated from the web-site, we’ll be even better off.

If you are a Sunday football club (or anyone with a web-site, for that matter) and you want to get involved in Google Adsense - it’s really easy. Just click the link below, create an account, and in a couple of days you’ll be up and running. They just provide you a bit of code to place on your web-site, and soon enough, you’ll get contextual adverts on every page of your site - all related to the subject matter.

Best of luck lads

This message marks the end of my time as Chairman and the end of my day to day association with the Loco Boys.If I had known, back almost 5 years ago now, what this club could achieve and become, when Paul Moore, Chris Parker and I first touted the idea of forming our own side, I would scarcely have believed it.

With no money, no kit and not enough players for a side we joined the BFA. Divvy 10 looked good for us - yeah we felt we had players better than that level but we were Rag-tag Rovers in terms of our standing as a club. To our initial horror we were thrown in at Divvy 7 but came to the conclusion that if we were out of our depth a little it didn’t matter, as we were still playing with mates and enjoying our football.

As expected early results were poor and mid-season we were hovering around the bottom of the league. But things were happening and Loco was gaining a reputation as a club with a fabulous atmosphere and team spirit and people wanted to join us. Slowly but surely we built a squad good enough to win the league, partly through introducing new players but in the main through the hard work of those lads that started the club.

At the end of our second season we won the title and that will always rank as one of my most memorable moments in football. Our progress since has been steady and constant and it is amazing to believe that the club who were 3-0 down after 5 minutes of their first ever league game will be stepping out in Divvy 4 just 4 years later.

Maybe there aren’t many of the originals left now but each and every player we’ve had has added something positive to this club - yes even “The Legend!!” and that is as much off the pitch as on it. Back in 2001, I wanted to play football with my good mates - Salva, Bomber, Scotty - all Loco legends in my eyes - but since then I have made a tremendous number of very very close friends I won’t ever forget.

Its your club now, but be certain that I will never stop watching your progress. Robin will be a great Chairman again because he cares about the club and Ali and Steve are equally key to the success story. Paul is as dedicated a manager as you’ll find in Sunday football and can take this club even further.

With players like Salva, Stu, Bomber and Sam who have been at the club years now, plus the new lads coming in over the last couple of years I think and hope you’ll have a great season.

And if things go wrong and you don’t keep what I still consider to be my club on the up and up, there’s only one thing to say………………”You bloody bastards!!!!!!”

Rob

All boding well for new season

With just over three weeks to go before our first pre-season game, things are looking very good for Loco - training has been a success, and we can’t wait to get started.With four new signings to add to the squad this year…

Scott Griffin a 19 year old attacking midfielder brought along to training by Andy Smith

Keith Jackson, 25, Centre Midfield brought in by Salva

David Hutchins, 24, left footed left midfielder/striker brought in by myself

Andy Savage, 28, right sided player 6″3′ in height, contacted us after seeing our web site.

All four I’m sure will prove to be a real asset to the squad. Next weeks session looks likely to see an even larger number attend too. Hopefully we will see everyone continue to turn up to training with a chance to get involved in pre-season and a chance for them to sign for the mighty Loco.

Training is going well with 15 players turning up weekly, proving that 1hr 30 of football works better than running lads into the ground with fitness work. We are already seeing the benefits of a change to training, with the players starting to gel, some of the first touches are brilliant, and movement is coming on

As we head closer to the start of the season we will be looking closely at set pieces and movement - weaknesses from last year we need to iron out early.

With the start of the season bearing down quickly, I’m starting to get excited with the prospect of what this team will be capable of this year, given time for me to find to right mixture for the squad, we will certainly not be the whipping boys of the league as some of the other teams in our division are predicting.

See you next Wednesday - we start training at 7.15pm on King George Fields in Ferndown.

Paul Phillips

Manager.