It was not a very long time ago that Rowen Fernandez walked off the field at the FNB Stadium a dejected man this was after former coach at the time Muhsin Ertugral, decided to substitute Rowen as the 2002 Telkom Charity Cup headed towards penalties.

The coach opted to bring on former Chiefs goalkeeper Brian Baloyi, who was noted as penalty specialist. Indeed Brian played his part and helped Chiefs lift the 2002 Telkom Charity Cup as they beat Black Leopards 8-7 on penalties.

For Rowen, the 2002-03 season was to be a tough season as he sat in the proverbial shadow of Baloyi. It was the arrival of Ted Dumitru a season later that helped spark Fernandez revival. It was the kind of resurrection that left many speechless and Brian Baloyi opted to run far away from Fernandez and headed to Sundowns at the end of the 2003-04 season.

As Chris Eagles stepped up to take Manchester United’s fifth spot-kick, there seemed to be a sense of calm amongst the Chiefs supporters at Loftus in Pretoria, as some how they had seen this before. In the past couple of months the Chiefs supporters have gotten used to seeing Fernandez in super hero mode as he lunges through the air or tears up the turf to thwart an opposition attack.

Rowen’s heroics in the ABSA Cup helped Chiefs stop Mamelodi Sundowns march towards what could have been a shot at a league and cup double. Rowen was again the hero in the spot kicks as he secured Chiefs a berth in the final against Pirates, where his prowess in goal once again came to the fore, as he stood big in normal time to stop a number of Pirates canon balls from landing in the back of the net.

In the final he once again became the hero scoring and stopping the opposition from doing so as Chiefs triumphed via penalty kicks for their first triumph in that competition for six years.

As Rowen rose on Sunday morning to find his face adorning a number of the back pages it was not just in South Africa where a screaming Fernandez image was splashed all over the tabloids, in the UK the likes of Sky Sports and other publications of electronic and print mediums showed a jubilant Fernandez after he had just saved Eagles’ kick to hand Chiefs their first ever victory over an English Premier League team in seven outings and only The Amakhosi’s second ever victory over European opposition.

Speaking as he left the Sheraton hotel in the capital on Saturday, even Fernandez said of the game against the English giants ‘it was a really tough game and I felt they had us under immense pressure in the first half. We made some terrible defensive blunders which allowed them in. We did not close them down and the likes of Richardson and Fletcher had too much space in the first period” said Fernandez.

Asked about how Chiefs turned the tide and came out more positive in the second half and took the game to the visitors he said “our second half performance really shows just what a close knit team we have instead of pointing figures we rectified the situation and could have won the game in open play, Shaun had a terrific header saved on the line and so it went”.

Rowen is fast earning himself the title of one of the best shot stoppers in the land after keeping out Sundowns and Pirates in recent times. He has taken his popularity amongst the Chiefs faithful to new heights with his heroics in the Vodacom Challenge in general.

As much as it was intense Rowen enjoyed the captivity of the shoot out and that winning feeling can not be beaten adding “it’s always lekker winning a game and for me winning on penalties in more fun. When a game goes to penalties I get this rush I can not really explain and it helps me to cope with the situation and the intensity and helps me raise my game to a whole new level, really I can not put these feelings into words”.

Even with this truly historical victory over Manchester United Rowen still believes that there is a long road ahead for Chiefs and that the team will keep their feet on the ground, this experience will most definitely lift their game and team spirit.

As Rowen said “after the game we have sat around and said that we gained a lot out of playing United twice, now we need to play like this for another forty games, we are interested in a clean sweep next season. It does not help us to beat one of the best teams in the world on one weekend and than with no disrespect play Benoni United and draw or lose, we need to go forward from here and that means getting back the title from Sundowns”.

With two weeks to go to the start of the 2006 – 2007 season when Chiefs will play a resurgent Super Sport United at the very same Loftus Stadium in Tshwane, Fernandez and company will be on the road again this weekend as they head to Bloemfontein. To play in what could be two more preparation matches ahead of the season opener, The Amakhosi will play fellow Soweto neighbours Moroka Swallows in the opening game of the Mangaung trophy and Rowen is optimistic that Chiefs could bag their third pre season trophy adding it to the Limpopo Soccer Challenge and the Vodacom Challenge.