Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Liberato Colvey was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Waitakere United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Waitakere United has to find a result from somewhere.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Waitakere United and Team Wellington in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Waitakere United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alex Colvey has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Robin Ismajli has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Waitakere United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadOliver Just has improved at 30, which nobody expected
SquadWords at Waitakere United training over how hard people work
Kosta Payne was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Hawke's Bay United will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Monty Colvey has pre-agreed a move to Waitakere United, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Sam McCowatt falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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 Waitakere United, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Waitakere United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Waitakere United training over how hard people work