New players this year (Part 1)

As the new season gets underway, locoboys.co.uk provides you with a few snaps of the new players that will be gracing the pitch this year for Locomotive…

There have been several new faces turn up in pre-season, and it has been great to see so many of them begin to really integrate into the club.

Ferndown Locomotive is a superbly well run club, and it’s excellent to see the new batch of lads embrace the clubs philosphy so quickly. Training has been really good - albeit bloody difficult, with Trevor running us ragged down the beach!

This page merely provides photos, and a little bit of information about each of the new players, with the rest of the lads being featured next week.

A warm welcome to all new squad members of Ferndown Locomotive FC!

James is a forward who has proved his worth already in the last two games,
netting two headers - a great addition to the squad.

Jonny has started out with Loco, and played his first fixture against Mazars
at Heathlands. Looks as though he will be able to really do a job for Loco and
it’s great to see him join the squad.

Chris Hopkins is our cheeky chappy who plays on the left. Someone who has come
to every training session since the start, Chris has usually between two and
four pre-match toilet stops before a Sunday morning game, and is often seen
judging photos of himself as he decides which one is best

Our keeper Kris has had a great start to pre-season, producing some blinding
saves, and looking unstoppable in the Number One shirt.

Jimmy Redford is our recent signing, hailing recently from London - he’s been
used to playing in the ghettos in West London football, therefore is pleasantly
surprised by the handshakes and niceties of the Bournemouth Hayward League (it
won’t last long!)

Very solid and reliable defender who played for JS Shotz last season. A great
signing for us, and someone who is going to be vital for us this season.

Matt (preferably Matthew) Webb is a terrier in the midfield, and has the qualities
of many former Loco players roled into one. Gets stuck in, never afraid of a
tackle, and gbets injured in pre-season!

The next batch of photos and new players will be featured next week on
locoboys.co.uk, so stay tuned.

Loco shape up with 6-3 victory

Locomotive continued their pre-season campaign on Sunday at Mazars, with two separate sides being fielded for each half. Loco ran out 6-3 winners.

After Thursday where Loco had a record turn out of 24 players at King George,
we were always expecting a big turn out for the Sunday friendly at Heathlands,
but no-one apart from Cash expected that we would be able to field two separate
sides for the first and second half.

So, we started the game with Kris Legg in goal, Matt Robinson, Jimmy Redford,
and Luke Mellor at the back. In the midfield was had Sam Davis, Andy Smith,
Kirk Eaton, and Chris Brown. This left Kyle Eaton and Rick Watkins
up-front, with Matthew Webb playing in the V behind the two strikers. For the
first half we donned the blue kit, with the lads playing in the second 45 donning
the infamous yellow and green kit.

The first half took a while to get going for the away side, with the home side
getting most of the possession, but sooner or later, we found our stride, and
we were knocking a few good balls around. On 15 minutes, we opened the scoring,
when Rick set up Kyle, who went through on goal, and slotted home with style.

Moments later in the match it was curtains for Matthew Webb, when after a lunge,
he shafted his leg and had to be stretchered off, leaving Ali Carmichael with
the arduous task of playing a whole match!

Mazars came back with two quick goals around the half hour mark, one of which
Chris and Kris did their best to clear… but didn’t – well
done Mr Brown. These goals, although they were a blot on the score-sheet for
Loco, were not really dwelled on, and Loco subsequently finished the half in
style.

It was Mr Eaton that netted his hat-trick on 44 minutes, with a well worked
goal with Rick, which saw Kyle running away from goal, yet still having the
agility to turn on a sixpence and slot the ball to the left of the diving keeper
– a cracking effort.

Apart from the goals, the half gave manager Paul Cashmore a lot of hope, with
some simple but solid football, some intelligent play, and some brief Hollywood
moments – altogether contributing towards a 3-2 first half victory against
one of the better Division Three sides around.

Half-time: Mazars 2 - 3 Ferndown Locomotive

The second half saw almost a completely different side take to the field, consisting
of Kris Legg in goal, Paul Cashmore, Simon Candy, and Chris Hopkins at the back.
With Dave Hutchins, Michael Ypes, Keith Jackson, and Ali Carmichael in midfield.
This left James Clease, Rick Watkins, and Jonny Haines as the three
in the triangle up front.

The second half performance was as good, if not better, than that of the first
half, with a really solid look about the team. Everyone performed superbly,
and particular impressing, from a neutral point of view, was Michael Ypes on
the left, Rick up front, and also Dave Hutchings on the left.

It was also a welcome return to the Loco for Simon Candy, who didn’t
look out of place at all at the back alongside Cash.

Loco scored three great goals during the second half, mainly as a result of
some cracking work in midfield, and also be utilizing the width on the massive
pitch at Heathlands. The first goal of the half came when Rick was put through,
and he casually went one-on-one with the keeper, and chipped it into the roof
of the net past the keeper – a really smooth finish.

Rick again was in on the action moments later down the right wing, when he
managed to beat a number of players to fire in a cross, however there was no-one
in the box to convert – but another two minutes later, there was, when
the same move occurred, but this time, James Clease was on hand to score his
second Loco goal, using his strength to muscle in between the keeper and defender
to force it home.

Mazars did manage to pull one back later on, however it was futile, as Keith
Jackson managed to wrap up the points from close distance win the closing stages.

A really encouraging turn out, and some ultimately cracking performances today
– and it came together with a resounding 6-3 victory over a team who powered
through the league last season, and will probably do the same again this season.
Congrats everyone on our first win.

Full-Time: Mazars 3 – 6 Ferndown Locomotive

Four each in Blandford game

Locomotive played their second stifling pre-season friendly on Sunday at home to Blandford Town FC, in an interesting game which ended 4-4 at full-time – with Kyle Eaton scoring two.
It was a fantastic game for the neutral, and very much an interesting one for the players and management alike on Sunday – in an exhilarating battle at Ferndown Sports Centre, which saw some breathtaking goals, a lot of strong performances, but above all – a more cohesive performance.

Locomotive started the game playing the 3-5-2 formation, with Chris Legg in goal – and Matt Robinson, Luke, and Cash as the defenders. In midfield we had Chris Hopkins, Sam Davis, Andy Smith, and Kirk Eaton. This left Kyle and Dave ‘The Don’ Hutchinson up front - with Matt Webb having a roving role just in front of the midfield.

The first attack of the game couldn’t have been better, with Loco opening the scoring on twenty seconds. A swift attack on the left resulted in Andy Smith squaring the ball into the feet of Dave Hutch, who couldn’t fail but to hit the target for close distance.

Then moments later it was two, when a move started in the middle of the pitch, and ended up Kyle Eaton grabbing the ball on the left apex of the penalty area, and lobbing the ball into the opposite top corner of the net to make it 2-0. Superb.

After going two up we took our foot off the gas somewhat, and we let Blandford back in with two soft goals – the first of which came from the spot after an incredibly dubious decision by the stand-in referee! This was duly converted very well by Phil Watkins for the away side.

Moments later it was 2-2, with a defensive mix up leading to the Blandford striker being able to able the ball into the net at his own pace.

Before half-time though Loco pulled it back to 3-3, with Kyle grabbing another goal, which was identical to the first goal he scored – a great individual effort – probably goal of the weekend (if you exclude Steven Gerrards effort for Liverpool that is).

So half-time came and went, and Loco made a few changes, with the introduction of Michael Ypes, Paul, and the two James’s

The second half was another strong performance by the home side, and although we lost the second 45 minutes 2-1, we showed some real signs of quality. We managed to get a lot of shots away via Andy, James, Matt, and Kyle – and although none of them hit the target, the moves that led to them were really sound.

Blandford made it 3-3 on 60 minutes with a close range effort, and then the Loco made it 4-3 when a good cross was nodded in at the far post by James.

However with ten minutes to go, Blandford scored a stunning equalizer, which some say was a cross, which gave Chris no chance in goal, and left the honours even at the end of the game,

It was pleasing to see a much better performance from the lads. There is still loads more work to do, but with all the effort that is being put in, things are looking bright for Loco as September approaches! Thanks to Dave for bringing his team down for yet another competitive fixture between the two sides – we’ll see you next season, and best of luck in your respective league and cups this year!

Pre-season under way at last!

Ferndown Locomotive started the season in typical Loco fashion on Saturday at Ferndown, with an exceptionally difficult match against Portcastrian, losing 6-2.Paul Cashmore decided that this fixture would be used to trial and test a lot of new players in a number of positions, therefore we played three 30 minute thirds, allowing a good number of rotations.

The squad consisted of Mike, Luke, Kirk, Chris, Dean, Kyle, James, Sam, Dave, Keith, Lee, Michael, Bruce, Paul, and Carl. To any casual observer, and probably to the average web-site visitor, it was clear that this was a team of players who had not played together competitively before. However, fear not, as the signings are confirmed, the Loco site will be providing concise run-downs of every single player who will be gracing the red and black shirt.

Loco did well (football-wise) in the first half an hour, scoring two, but also letting in three. Kyle scored both our goals having been set up by Sam both times. The goals from the opposition, were pretty soft and preventable, however this game was quite a learning curve, so there wasn’t too much back-biting when the ball went in our net.

The middle third saw Loco concede three goals in a pretty poor section of play. No-one got hold of the ball, and things just generally were not working for the home side.

It picked up though in the last third, with no goals for either side, and with Dave Hutchinson going close when he was set up by Kyle, only to strike the post.

With the final score 6-2 to the away side, the worst thing to come out of it was our organisation at keeping the footballs together! There are lessons to be learned in fixtures like these, and pre-seasons are usually filled full of some dire performance as everyone looks forward to the main event… this day was certainly one of them!

On to the next one!

Loco Play Fair to win prize

Every season Loco somehow manage to pick things up, last season - promotion; this season - a fair play award. Thank you to Priory Sports and the BFA, and all the Loco players!It’s really great to see Loco being rewarded for being one of the cleanest teams in the Bournemouth Football League.

At the recent Loco AGM, Sam went and picked up the award, handed over by the manager of Priory Sports in Christchurch - in what was otherwise a very standard Saturday/Sunday League meeting.

The prize is under wraps for the meantime, as we will be allocating it extremely soon!

I must at this point pay tribute to Stu Bramley, who is Loco’s stalwart, and who may well be gracing the red and black shirt again this season, family permitting. Stu was always a player who had some strong words to say, however this season he managed to keep his tongue at bay. Similarly, Sean Barker deserves a mention - as being a golkeeper, it is difficult not to get sent off when you’re one on one. It has happened before, and it hasn’t happened since - well done Salva…

Now, I’ve got no idea how our fair play ranking is worked out - but check this out… UEFA use a multitude of points systems in order to determine the Fair Play award. Maybe Loco could take on a few of these pointers for next season…

• Yellow and Red cards: If no cards are shown the score will be 10. For every
  yellow card will deduct this total by 1. A red card will cost a team 3 points
  in the ranking. If the red card is the result of a second yellow card the
  deductions of the two yellow card will be ignored. But if a player gets a
  direct red card after he got a yellow card earlier, the yellow card will be
  counted as a deduction. This score could become negative.
• Positive play: For positive play a team can score a maximum of 10 point
  and a minimum of 1 point.
• Respect to the opponent: e.g. returning the ball to the opponent at a throw-in:
  maximum 5 points, minimum 1 point.
• Respect to the referee: maximum 5 points, minimum 1 point.
• Behaviour of the team officials: maximum 5 points, minimum 1 point.
• Behaviour of the fans: maximum of 5 point and a minimum of 1 point

Well done Loco.

Changes at Locomotive

Changes are afoot this year at Ferndown Locomotive, not least with the managerial change, and this article summarises the key points in what is a big step for Loco.At the end of the 2006/07 season, the Ferndown Locomotive committee got together to discuss the future of the football club, and within an hour, a new direction for the club was decided, with existing manager Paul Philips stepping down, and making way for Loco defender Paul Cashmore to take the reigns in the hotseat.

The change was brought about due to numerous reasons, but mainly because Pauls family is developing very quickly, and with another one the way, it only seemed right that he dedicated more of his time to Tara and the kids - whilst taking a back-seat with Loco, preferring to become Chairman, therefore being able to oversee the running of the club.

This move, although very sad after Paul’s long tenure, was also greeted with a lot of excitement with the squad - with Paul Cashmore expected to shake things up on the pitch.

One of the decisions also made by the committee was to take Loco on as a football club and not a social unit. Of course, we want the social side to still be one of the main reasons why players want to stay - however Loco needs to be a team full of footballers who socialise together, and NOT a bunch of socialisers who can say they play football on a Sunday morning.

This new spirit has already shown its benefits in pre-season training, with great turn outs week after week, and a competitive spirit which should ensure no players are in their comfort zone, either before or during the season.

Another decision made by the committee was to increase match subs to £5. This was to ensure medical kit is topped up, to pay for laundering of the kit, and also to increase the club funds - as we are now completely a self-sufficient club - with no sponsorship.

Other innovations this season will include getting squad players more involved, and one of the cheeky ways of ensuring this is by making the person who turns up late have the beautiful task of sweeping the changing rooms at the end of the game! Marvellous.

Other changes will be filtering through - however, on the whole, the club still has the same aims - albeit with a slightly new angle. With the buzz that is going around at the moment, there’s nothing to say that the direction we’re heading now is not the right one.

Best of luck in 2007/08 to players and supporters of Ferndown Locomotive.

Loco Golf day is above par

Ferndown Locomotive had their first team Golf Day recently at Paultons Park, with a healthy turn out - with a good mixture of pros and Keiths :)The day was a resounding success, and I must firstly say well done to Paul Phillips for organising what was such a fantastic day.

We began the day at 9.30am sharp (although Keith was still on Taiwanese time judging by his incredibly late arrival). With numerous players having beers the night before, it was intriguing to see what the kind of quality was going to grace the course, however, in general - it was pretty solid.

We all gathered outside the clubhouse with a coffee and a bacon bap, and we teed off soon after, going in five groups of four.

At this point, I must say, if there is a lack of golfing terminology in this article, that is because I know hardly anything about it (hence I was the caddy on the day and not a player!).

The front nine saw some really good scores, with Paul Cashmore particularly excelling - some really great drives, and then chipping and putting like a true pro. Similarly Paul Phillips and Hey Arnold were also putting in some good shows.

As the day developed, it was great to see the team bonding in such an extraordinary way; similarly, it was just as satisfying to see Keith really take responsibility for his own actions after a poor tee shot on the eighth.

Unfortunately for Keith, his first shot didn’t take him past the ladies tee, therefore, being gullible enough to believe Mike Brannan’s folklore, the Loco midfielder then proceeded to run around the course with his boxers down, and take his subsequent shots with his trousers down to his ankles. The video is priceless….

Apart from that though, Keith, just like everyone, were very good sports throughout the day, with a lot of encouragement provided, and healthy amounts of advice here and there too.

The back nine holes really separated the men from the boys though, and with Lee Arnold and Steve Phillips both getting closest to the pin on holes 12 and 15 respectively, it was always going to be a close run contest.

The pictures in the Media Gallery tell the tale of the concluding parts of the Golf Day, as the awards were handed out by Paul Phillips, inside the Paultons Park clubhouse.

In all, it was a fantastic day, and I for one enjoyed it just by watching, so I’m sure everyone who played was equally happy with the day.

Roll on next year…

Smith takes Pant Plaudits

Andy Smith’s fruitful season at Ferndown Locomotive was only topped off on Sunday, with an astonishing display of audacity in the changing rooms before the game.Not only did this player turn in a superb performance as part of Loco’s 7-1 end-of-season goal spree, the newly positioned Loco centre-midfielder also arrived in the front-runner for this seasons pant competition.

We’ve had some dodgy entries already, but Andy totally topped it at SladesFarm with the introduction of frosty the snowman. According to Mr Smith, who was very shy in commenting about this fabric masterpiece, these pants were purchased for him by his other half. His other half also declined to comment.

The big reveal in the changing room went very well for Mr Smith, who managed to perk up a quite jaded set of players’ with his lingerie, however, although the design certainly tickled many of the players’ fancies, it caused Andy some grief.

The problem with these pants were two-fold, not only did they look ridiculous, it also made it look as though the midfielder was playing with a bonk on for ninety minutes. This however, seemed to work well for the Loco patron, with the opposition refusing to go anywhere near the carrot (which Mr Smiuth was ironically dangling).

Who ‘nose’ whether Andy will win the Loco pant contest, but stay tuned and you will most definitely find out!