ML - The train ride of Locomotiv Northcliffe (1/4)

Locomotiv Northcliffe were founded in 2012. A small 5-a-side team from Huddersfield, who play in the Soccer City Wednesday Student League, this is part 1 of 4 of our journey. 

Our first game was against a team named Lord Wilson FC. Since our team name contained Lord Northcliffe, it felt like a rivalry, however, less said about this game the better. We huffed and we puffed, and ultimately got trounced 7-1. It was a harsh lesson in what was to come, however we were offered some reassuring words that Lord Wilson FC were one of the best in the division and that a team 'no better than us', had won 9-0. So hope was still there. We had no substitutes which we eventually realised was a necessity in these games. Taking no credit away from Lord Wilson FC though, they were a well drilled outfit. We were 11th out of 12 teams, with only Team Heskey below us.

If you're thinking it couldn't get any worse, then you'd be foolish for thinking so. Our second week we couldn't even pull 5 people together to actually field a side, so was given a warning and a 6-0 defeat. On the contrary, we should have done more to play the game, but 6-0 seemed a little on the harsh side. We were staring into the abyss. We were rooting around at the bottom of the table with a -12 goal difference and only one goal scored, which came from a penalty. Hardly anything to cry home about. We stayed 11th in the table, propped up again by Team Heskey. The sooner we played them, the better.

Our next match was against Thai A, a classic 6 pointer. Thai A, had also lost both of their opening fixtures, so maybe this was the time to turn things around. Our 3rd game was also the first time we had an extra man, meaning a substitute could roll on and roll off for us Northcliffe's who were unfit and out of shape. It was a scrappy game, but we came out on top with a 7-5 victory. Our first win, and we were joyous. It wasn't to be our last win, either. Yet, in that moment we were happy to have not only won a game, but scored a goal from open play. A look at the fixture list showed us that our next opponents were 'Team Heskey', a quite frightening name for a football team. Our first win sends us up to the dizzying heights of 8th.

Team Heskey were also laundering near the bottom of the league, however, we turned up on the day with only 5 players, as our captain Peter, was back home in London town for reading week. Despite an opening scare of going 2 goals down, we turned it around and triumphed 9-4. Team Heskey were the whipping boys of the division, along with the chinese teams, and admittedly we should have scored a lot more goals. Although we were all very fatigued by the end and were happy with the 3 points. Goal difference was becoming a very important thing to look at in this division, but luckily we have both chinese teams to boost our goal difference. Somehow, we stayed 8th.

With two wins on the bounce, the train was unstoppable. 'T.F.G' were up next, a team that were above us in the table, so our thinking was if we can win these, then we're a decent mid-table outfit. The warm up before the game sent nerves jangling as they looked a decent team, and were rocketing shots in from all angles. They had the look of good footballers, and it was a pity that this look was not transcribed into their actual footballing skills. The only word to describe it would be 'decimation'. Once we got into our stride, we were firing goals in left right and centre. They looked good at shooting, and admittedly were quite good on the attack, but they were absolutely terrible at defending and we should have had a lot more than the 12 we ended up getting. 12-3 was a fantastic win for us though, and confidence was sky high. An even sterner test was next, Thai B. Despite our decimation, we only rose one place to 7th.

We'd already conquered Thai A in a scrappy 7-5 win, and Thai B were the better of the Thai outfits. A look at the form guide showed that they had drawn their first game of the season and gone on to win the next 4. Not playing any of the top 2 (Toads and Lord Wilson FC), but still they sat comfortably in 3rd, while we were floundering four places below them in the league. An opening turn and shot from Greg and a penalty from myself sent us 2-0 up. Could this really be happening? Are we to inflict Thai B's first defeat, and are we going to go unbeaten in November? They hit back though, scoring 3 goals and retaining the lead. They were workhorses, and just didn't stop. Nothing was stopping this train though, and we rolled out goal after goal and ended up winning 9-6. We adapted the Tottenham Hotpur method of 'we'll score more goals than you' but it was working! Admittedly, there were some quite dirty time-wasting tactics from me, and I also threw my body about a bit. Yet, it worked, and people in the league were starting to sit up and take notice of us. We're up to 5th, after conquering Thailand! It's also useful to point out at this point we'd scored 38 goals, (the second most in the division), and we still had to play 2 of the 'whipping boys', and missed a game coincidentally against the team who had scored more than us.

Despite a shocking start to the season, we are slowly turning it around. Being unbeaten in November was something that I don't think any of us expected. Our next 5 fixtures are Chicken Cottage Allstars (the team who in the second paragraph were referred to as 'no better than us'), Chinese FC One (expect a whipping), Internationals, Chinese FC Two (another whipping) and Toads (top dogs at this moment at time), before we play them all again. Going to do these season blogs in 4 parts. 22 games played in total, so 6 games then a blog post. 5 games then a blog post. 6 games then a blog post. 5 games then a blog post. Jump on the train ride of Locomotiv Northcliffe, it should be a fun ride.