Cashmere Technical and Waitakere City are not letting anything cloud their focus on winning the Chatham Cup this weekend in Christchurch despite a multitude of potential distractions.
For starters, Cashmere are riding a wave of excitement simply through the city hosting its first Chatham Cup final in 25 years and the prospect of the full house signs going up at ASB Football Park as tickets shift quickly.
There is also a growing sense of expectation as the club has picked up trophy after trophy this season including the South Island championship, which they added to an already burgeoning cabinet last weekend.
Bringing extra motivation to earn a winners medal, if any were needed, is the winter football showpiece will bring the curtain down on the playing career of Tech and Canterbury United stalwart Andy Pitman and lifting the 90-year-old trophy would be a perfect swansong.
Then just for a touch of international intrigue, Cashmere's coach John Brown is away in Fiji on business and will hightail it from Christchurch International Airport to the ground on match day just in time for kickoff.
But assistant coach Paul Nicholls, who has been running the cutter during Brown's absence, said nothing could shift their eyes off the big prize.
"Certainly focus is what we've been talking about all week - we want the players to remain focussed on the task at hand," Nicholls said.
"It's a big day for Canterbury football and everyone is getting rung up about this or that and everything else but we're just trying to keep the lads channelled and focused on the big match itself and nothing else."
Having secured the Mainland Premier League title, claimed and defended the Hurley Shield and beaten Dunedin Technical last weekend to claim South Island honours, Cashmere have built plenty of big-game experience over the business end of this season.
Meanwhile, Colin Tuaa has been managing potential disruptions to his Waitakere City side's preparations, notably the absence of two star players until today.
Midfield general Jake Butler won his first All Whites cap in the recent win over Saudi Arabia, and since their semi final win over Melville, feared striker Roy Krishna has spent the time in Fiji where he was recently unveiled as Auckland City's major signing for the upcoming ASB Premiership season.
"To be honest, it hasn't been to difficult to maintain focus," Tuaa said. "We've just had to get on with the job of preparing for the final."
That said, Tuaa acknowledged the benefit of having two more of his big guns back - alongside fringe All White Tim Myers - to help steady the ship as amidst the pressure cup final week.
"Players react differently in big games, but we're quite fortunate to have three or four players who have won titles with Waitakere United and that's going to have benefits in a lot of ways.
"Not only in the game when they can be a calming influence when we need it but also in the preparation when nerves do play a big part.
Tuaa has a great deal of respect for Cashmere's exploits this season in various competitions but is 'quietly confident' of ending their winning run in front of a partisan home crowd.
"For us it's about taking the emotion out of these big games and our approach has been to make it as normal as possible.
"We're going to have to concentrate really well at the start. When we have a full side out we've been working well out of possession and we're going to have to do that from the start.
"If we can do that and then get that opening goal then that will calm the nerves and perhaps silence the crowd a bit, and we can maybe kick on from there."
The Chatham Cup final kicks off at 2.30pm as the second half of a cup final double-header, with Auckland's Glenfield Rovers meeting Christchurch's Coastal Spirit in the final of the national women's knockout cup at 11am.
Cashmere Technical (from): Danny Knight (GK), Daniel Terris, Nick Wortelboer, James Price, Dan Schwartz, Tom Schwartz, Julyan Collett, Stuart Kelly, Michael Munro, Dan Ede, Jamie Smith, Andrew Barton, Cory Mitchell, Shawn O'Brien, Andy Pitman, Hamish Smith, Shaun Roberts (GK), Danny Boys. Coach: John Brown
Waitakere City (from): Eamon Goodin (GK), Matthew Chatterton, Tim Myers, John Muchirahondo, Sam Redwood, Imraan Shah, Rory Turner, Denver MacDonald, Roy Krishna, Karlo Pavic, Meneua Fakasega, Kodai Hayashi, Ashley Ngadela, Joseph Turagabeci, Jake Butler, Jack Caunter, Christian Kirenga, Mike Bishop (GK). Coach: Colin Tuaa
