Coburn (28) will take his usual place in the centre of the park on Sunday when Dunedin Technical hosts Glenfield Rovers in the semifinal of the national knock-out tournament on Sunday.
Nearly a decade ago, Coburn was playing for Caversham when the great Dunedin rivals played out a bizarre tie at Tonga Park.
The game was delayed because of the state of the field, then ended 1-1 after normal time.
Both teams assumed the golden goal applied and Technical ran off celebrating when Graham Marshall headed a goal.
A couple of hasty phone calls later and it was learned the game should have gone to regulation extra time and a penalty shoot-out if needed.
Coburn and team-mates had to play another 15min in virtual darkness.
Technical scored two more goals and that was that.
Now, playing for Technical, Coburn has a chance to help his new club regain the Chatham Cup it won in memorable fashion nine years ago.
"We're pretty excited, to be honest," Coburn said yesterday.
"Over the last month we've really hit our straps, since we got a bit of a towelling from Caversham. We've picked up things and bounced back pretty well."
Coburn, who captains Otago United in the national league in summer, forms part of an experienced spine through the middle of the Technical line-up.
"We've got a pretty good core of experience up the middle of the park, with Blair Scoullar at centre back, me in the middle and Aaron Burgess up front.
"But even our younger guys have got quite a bit of national league experience.
We've all played no shortage of big games in the past, so hopefully, that will hold us in good stead for Sunday."
Coburn candidly admits he knows little about Technical's opponent on Sunday, though he is familiar with several players in the Glenfield Rovers side.
Home advantage would hopefully help Technical at the Caledonian, Coburn said.
"It can be a big factor. There's nothing like having a home crowd behind you and it's nice not to have to travel.
"There's also a bit of a buzz around the club about playing this game at home."
Coburn, an accountant at Southern Hospitality, started his club career with Mosgiel, spent five years with Caversham, played for Mosgiel for a second time, then joined Technical last season.
He was a foundation player when Otago United joined the New Zealand Football Championship five years ago but has not experienced anything like a Chatham Cup semifinal before.
"I hadn't even played in a quarterfinal before. This sort of thing doesn't come around too often."
Coburn controls the middle of the park but has also found a rich vein of scoring form, with goals in the last three rounds of the Chatham Cup.
