Rowen Fernandez kicked his way into the history books on Saturday afternoon when he pounced on the rebound, after Brian Baloyi could only parry his retaken spot kick and knocked the ball home from close range. The fact that Rowen had missed the kick and scored on the rebound meant that his thirty second minute equalizer against Sundowns on Saturday is not classified as a penalty, but instead it is recorded as a goal scored from open play.

While Rowen reveled in becoming the first Chiefs goalkeeper to score a goal from open play as well as doubling his goal tally for the season, as he had scored a penalty earlier in the season when Chiefs lost by two goals to one to Bidvest Wits, the Chiefs and Bafana Bafana goalkeeper’s afternoon soon turned from a happy one to an afternoon he would like to put behind him, as he participates in a national team training camp with new Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira for the next couple of days.

Fernandez game against Sundowns took a turn for the worst after he failed to hold a Josta Dladla cross and in uncharacteristic fashion he spilled the ball at the feet of Learto Chabangu who made the most of Fernandez error, and punished Chiefs by turning the ball into the net. The goal gave Sundowns the lead and Chabangu’s strike ultimately proved to be the match winner for the defending Premier Soccer League Champions.

Speaking to kaizerchiefs.com on Sunday Fernandez said of his mistake on Saturday.

“In football one has to take the good with the bad and for all the right that I might have done on Saturday, I wiped it away with a mistake which I should not have made and we could have exited the game with a point” explained Fernandez.

Asked whether he was being too hard for shouldering much of the blame for Chiefs defeat against Sundowns on Saturday he said “the thing is that as a goalkeeper you are always aware of the fact that you hold perhaps the most important position in the team, one mistake from your end and it could cost your team the game. Unfortunately that is what happened on Saturday afternoon I made one slip up and it cost us the game, the thing is that I have accepted that my mistake cost the team and all I can do now is build on from here”.

Although he did open up the door for Sundowns with his fifty first minute blunder, Fernandez did come up big for Chiefs later, as he twice saved bravely at the feet of Sundowns substitute striker Patrick Apataki.

“After Sundowns got the second goal I just knew that from that moment one I had to play like a monster and thankfully I was able to stop Apataki twice in the last couple of minutes, in reality all that counts for nothing because of my earlier mistake” said Fernandez.

While many fans who will look back at Saturday’s game will have the image of Fernandez dropping the ball at the feet of Chabangu clearly etched in their minds, few would think back to earlier in the game when Fernandez scored Chiefs equalizer with a rebounded shot off a retaken thirty second minute penalty.

While talking to kaizerchiefs.com through the two spot kicks he took, Fernandez explained as follows “when I took the first kick I just decided to make it as difficult as possible for the goalkeeper to save, being on the other side on many occasions I opted to go low in the corner and it worked”.

The Chiefs keeper was then called back by the referee as he had to retake the kick. “When the referee called me back I was really surprised and first I was not entirely sure why I had to retake the kick. The second time around it was a real gamble and I thought let me kick it back in the same direction. This time Brian got the ball and when it came back I raced as fast as I could and kicked it as hard as possible, and when it hit the net it was just a wonderful feeling”.

The Amakhosi’s first choice keeper does admit that at all cost he was going to score the penalty, the reason for that as he explains one needs to go back in history to 2001. “Brian Baloyi and I have been rivals for a longtime when I came to Chiefs he was the number one and I had to fight him for a place in the team. Ever since then there has been a professional rivalry between us and obviously scoring a goal past him, made the entire experience a very memorable one”.

Having had time to lament over this past weekend’s loss, what next for the Chiefs goalkeeper “it was hard for me to show my face in public on Sunday and I opted to stay at home, I know I disappointed the fans and it was difficult for me to face the public. Like everything else in life you get over these things. I have an important training camp with the national team this week, in addition we have a game against Golden Arrows on Saturday, so there is no time for me to be looking back and crying about what happened against Sundowns. I had the weekend to watch the game and analyzed my mistake, and from here onwards all that I can do is focus on Golden Arrows who are in front of me”.

Fernandez who is usually a crowd favourite with the Chiefs supporters when asked whether the events from Saturday would affect his relationship with the Chiefs fans, answered by saying. “During my time here at Chiefs I have been through a lot and the fans have always stuck by me, I do not think that this time will be any different we are fortunate enough to have the best supporters in the world at Chiefs. I know that right now it might be difficult for them to come to terms with what happened on Saturday, in time everything will be okay and I will try to make it up to them with a clean sheet against Golden Arrows”.

Fernandez is presented with the perfect opportunity to redeem himself with the Chiefs faithful this Saturday when Chiefs host Lamontville Golden Arrows at the Oppenheimer Stadium in Orkney at 16h00. The Chiefs goalkeeper along with four of his teammates who are currently with the national team in a training camp, are expected to return to Naturena on Wednesday.