Wairarapa United skipper Adam Cowan has dismissed rumours Sunday's Chatham Cup final with Napier City Rovers could be his last appearance for the team.
Talk has been rife Cowan has been head-hunted by other clubs for next season but he says he will be wearing the Wairarapa United colours again in 2012. "I've had three years with United now and I have enjoyed every minute of it. You can definitely say I will be back again next year," he said yesterday. "I've made a lot of good friendships through the club and you can't replace that sort of thing." While the effort of Wairarapa United to make the Chatham Cup decider has seemingly caught many pundits by surprise, Cowan said it had always been a prime objective for the side, alongside winning the 2011 central league title.
"We knew we had a side which was capable of taking out both competitions and now we've got just the one left ... and we're bloody determined to win that one."
Cowan is confident Wairarapa United will handle all the hype surrounding the cup final, saying the concentration of the players was simply on producing a performance that satisfied themselves and their army of supporters. "You don't win games by what is being said away from the field of play. It's great to know so many people are right behind us but it all comes down to trusting yourself to play well enough to win and I'm pretty sure we are in that space now."
Asked to assess the Napier City Rovers side, Cowan was typically frank, rating them as a "pretty good" side but adding that, man for man, Wairarapa United had no reason to feel they shouldn't be able to cope with anything thrown at them. "Honestly I do believe we have a team which should beat them ... we are no certainties but we should be good enough to win."
