The Hawke's Bay United Courier
Match18 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Hawke's Bay United
Position 5 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match16 Jan 2027
No mercy from Hawke's Bay United
Canterbury United will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Hawke's Bay United were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market18 Jan 2027
Edward Price puts it in writing
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hawke's Bay United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Orlando Thorpe, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market18 Jan 2027
Noah Bell attracts admirers
The name of Noah Bell has come up in conversations Hawke's Bay United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Douglas Dias in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hawke's Bay United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Jai Lewis for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Hawke's Bay United will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
The crowd has taken to Orlando Thorpe
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Hawke's Bay United count the cost of losing Jai Van Hattum
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
In brief
- Squad Hawke's Bay United keep their word to Owen Lewis
- Player ratings Nobody could get near Bill Lewis
- Player ratings A defender's afternoon for Jai Lewis