Sam Nelson

Central Midfielder - Waitakere United
5 Jan 2027
Tuesday
Process

Marked for Sam Nelson

23 Edition

The Waitakere United Sentinel

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Waitakere United are in real trouble now

Position 5, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Michael Lockyer hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Waitakere United can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

The season belongs to Winston De Vries

An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Waitakere United have had the benefit of it.

Squad

Deklan Reid 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 Waitakere United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanele Radebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Loan watch

Deklan Lewis counts the days

“I watch every Waitakere United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Auckland City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Sanele Radebe

Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Ben Lewis

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ben Lewis has come out of that comparison in the side, and Waitakere United have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Winston De Vries

Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

In brief