“So I think I feel even more grateful that this time I can have another go, even though last year it went perfect – we won 1-0 (against AGF) and I came on for 15 minutes.
“It was a crazy day, a really great experience, easily the best day in my career – just the build up during the day, and also the celebrations after. I'm hoping that it can be the same again.”
While McCowatt only came off the bench a year ago, where the winner was scored by Oliver Sonne – who has just been promoted to the English Premier League with Burnley – he is in line for a larger role this time around.
He only made one brief appearance in the first 11 rounds of the season where he was sidelined with injuries, then was largely used off the bench as Silkeborg missed out on a place in the top six on goal difference.
But since returning from international duty with the All Whites in March – where he started twice as they beat Fiji and New Caledonia to qualify for next year’s FIFA World Cup – he has been a fixture in his club’s starting lineup, playing as their right-sided attacking midfielder.
With the caveat that he has been playing against teams in the bottom half of the league, he has scored three goals and assisted three more in that time, on top of the two he scored before the split.
He also has two goals and an assist in Silkeborg’s cup run, including the opening goal in the second leg of their hard-fought home-and-away semifinal win over Brondby.
It’s his best run of form since joining the top-tier side in 2023 from second-tier club FC Helsingør, where he spent his first three seasons after moving to Denmark from the Wellington Phoenix at the end of 2020, playing alongside fellow All Whites Elijah Just and Dalton Wilkins, who were previously team-mates when they were all at Wellington’s Olé Academy together.
Reflecting on his football journey and the five years he has now spent in Europe, he said: “The mentality in Europe is is definitely the thing that's different.
“Players are much more mentally stronger and it's evident from the moment you walk in the door, which is something that I think New Zealand players should work on – myself included.
“I've taken years (working on it) and it's something I'm working on actively still.
“I'd like to see some more, some more Kiwis come through and try and play in the the (second-tier) first division. There's a lot of Australians over here now.”
McCowatt tries to make it back to New Zealand during the Superliga’s winter break, which coincides with Christmas, but he said Denmark “feels like home now”.
“Which is sad in some ways, but it's just how life goes. It feels like a lifetime ago since I moved to Helsingør and was playing with Eli and Dalton."
“Those times were the best, because it's so rare that you get to play at a professional club with players who you've grown up with.
“I think maybe I've come as a boy and I'm a man now,” McCowatt added.
