If one was at the ABSA Stadium in Durban on Saturday afternoon, you would have thought that with early dominance of Orlando Pirates in the ABSA Cup Final, Chiefs were going to be in for a rough afternoon.

As former Chiefs striker Siyabonga Nomvete tormented The Amakhosi defence he found Chiefs goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez to be in an un-giving mood as Chiefs number one showed his true class and quality in helping the Phefeni Glamour Boys bury the ghosts of 1988.

Rowen was called upon on numerous occasions to throw his body on the line to keep Chiefs in the game, most notably saving from the boot of Lelo Mbele as the clock wound down in extra time.

Rowen’s heart stopping saves bagged him a double bonus on Saturday as he walked away with two individual awards at the end of the game attaché with a healthy prize purse; firstly Rowen was given the man of the match award.

After his performance on Saturday no one could deny him a truly deserved honour, he was further awarded with the flexi save award for thwarting the Pirates attack.

For Fernandez the awards are most welcome as he adds “the game was tough but we kept things together and we had to come back into the game, which shows the spirit of this team.

Winning individual awards just put a nice touch on what we as a team had achieved together and we will take this performance forward with us to next season where we would like to get our League title back”.

The final was not all plain sailing and the Chiefs goalie is the first to admit that there were some nervy moments as he continues “ten minutes into the game Nomvete hit a ferocious shot to me it looked like it was going out and than it turned and when it past me I just thought oh no.

When I heard it crash against the wood work I knew it was going to be our day because if that did not go in nothing would and so it all worked out for the better”.

Like they did in the semi final against Sundowns, Chiefs triumphed via the penalty shoot out with Rowen saving Isaac Chansa’s kick and than converting his to hand Chiefs victory, “we did practise penalties before the game because you need to be prepared before the game and I practised saving and taking kicks, scoring the important spot kick was the cherry on a well iced afternoon” added Rowen.

Having bagged another winner’s medal in his young career as well as the individual cup final accolades Rowen Fernandez star is back on the rise again, with his performances towards the latter part of the season.

Rowen can be sure to expect a telephone call some time in the off season informing him to return for national duty with Bafana Bafana.