When Christchurch United meet rivals Cashmere Technical in the English Cup final on Saturday, the goal will be to repeat the feat they achieved 32 years ago.
United won their first Chatham Cup since 1991 when they beat Hamilton’s Melville at the weekend. United also haven’t won the English Cup since 91.
The royal-blues won 4-2 on penalty shootouts following Melville goalkeeper Max Tommy’s 98th minute equaliser to send the game to extra time.
Head coach Paul Ifill said to expect a different game plan from United in Saturday’s final at English Park.
“We’re going to change what we’re doing because we have a few players away, who assumed there was a break before the National League,” he said.
“It’s been difficult balancing the competitions, but we’re lucky we’ve got good support and plenty of youth coming through.”
Eleven teenagers from the club’s academy have played throughout this year, with several expected to feature on Saturday.
However, claiming the English Cup will be no easy feat for United who lost to Technical 2-1 two weeks ago in the final round of the Southern League.
Technical have been the perennial English Cup contenders in recent years and claimed their sixth win in a row last year, while United have won the Cup six times in their history.
“We missed a few really good chances in the first half,” he said.
“At 2-1, we were just trying to hold on but as soon as the keeper came up, I was like ‘oh no.’”
“It was a chaotic end to full time, and I thought we probably should have won in extra time, but the way we won was perfect.”
Winning the national club knockout competition for the first time is arguably Ifill’s biggest coaching achievement in his career.
But the former Wellington Phoenix forward credits the milestone to his first team assistant coach Ekow Quanioo and other assistant Daniel Godden. It was the first year the three had worked together.
“I think the boys will be relaxed after winning the big one,” he said.
“Winning the league and the Chatham Cup was always a goal from the start of the season, but don’t get me wrong, it would be the icing on the cake to do the treble.”
