cakePHP3 Form Authentication fails on identify() and manual DefaultPasswordHasher check() - authentication

Question

I copied code from examples to create a basic login screen based on the table individuals with email and password. My AppController has this:
$this->loadComponent('Auth', [
'authenticate' => [
'Form' => [
'fields' => ['username' => 'email', 'password' => 'password'],
'userModel' => 'Individuals']
],
'loginAction' => [
'controller' => 'Individuals',
'action' => 'login'
],
'loginRedirect' => [
'controller' => 'Associations',
'action' => 'login'
],
'logoutRedirect' => [
'controller' => 'Association',
'action' => 'login',
'home'
]
]);
Password resets are done via a token emailed to the user. The controller saves the unencrypted value and /src/Model/Entity/Individual.php has _setPassword that ensures the database has an encrypted value. Every save for the same password is different but that, I gather, is normal.
protected function _setPassword($password) {
if (strlen($password) > 0) {
return (new DefaultPasswordHasher)->hash($password);
}
}
My login function started with the standard stuff, but it always returns false
$user = $this->Auth->identify();
My login function now has this debug code that always gets a "no match"
debug($this->request->data);
$email = $this->request->data['email'];
$pwd = $this->request->data['password'];
$user = $this->Individuals->find()
->select(['Individuals.id', 'Individuals.email', 'Individuals.password'])
->where(['Individuals.email' => $email])
->first();
if ($user) {
if ((new DefaultPasswordHasher)->check($pwd, $user->password)) {
debug('match');
}
else{
debug('no match');
}
if ($user->password == (new DefaultPasswordHasher)->hash($pwd)) {
debug('match2');
}
else {
debug('no match2');
}
}
There's a lot more code in and around that and I'm pretty confident I've got it right. Let me know if you need more. I'm keen to crack this.
thanks in advance.