The Auckland City Post
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Haris Zeb was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 51. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market9 Nov 2026
Adam Mitchell asks to leave Auckland City
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Lamin Sillah, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.17
A mark of 8.17 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Auckland City
Lamin Sillah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Auckland City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikko Boxall 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Matt Ellis the difference as Auckland City beat WaiBOP United
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Matt Ellis. 2‑0 against WaiBOP United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market9 Nov 2026
Auckland City promote Ryan Smith from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ryan Smith has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market9 Nov 2026
Jake Lockyer steps up from the Auckland City academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jake Lockyer 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Matt Ellis in the eights
A performance of 8.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
In brief
- The dugout Dane Garbett has his say
- The dugout Adam Mitchell asks for a word with the manager
- Squad The division's best last weekend was a Auckland City man