Cardiff City striker reflects on long journey back from injury after playing starring role
CARDIFF, WALES - 16TH FEBRUARY 2025: Mackenzie Olden of Cardiff City celebrates scoring her sides third goal. Cardiff City v Barry Town United in the Bute Energy Welsh Cup at Leckwith Stadium on the 16th February 2025. (Pic by Lewis Mitchell/FAW)
Football is, and always has been, about moments, and for Cardiff City striker Mackenzie Olden, today was her moment.
December 2023 and in a game away to Aberystwyth Town, Olden was forced off just nineteen minutes in with an injury. A few days later, the three letters no player wants to hear was confirmed, ACL.
Fast forward almost a year exactly, and Olden makes her return to the pitch with City’s successful U19s, but today for the first time since that game in Park Avenue, the striker started for the senior team and boy did she make an impact.
“I don’t think words can describe what’s happened today. I’ve worked so hard over the last twelve months, and I came into this game today just trying to do my best and put everything that I’ve been working on into the game, and to come away with a goal and an assist is just amazing.”
Today, in many ways, we saw a vintage Olden performance.
Her assist was mesmeric, as she jinked past Lauren Harris to set up Molly Kehoe, and her goal was all about being in the right place at the right time, something the forward has made a habit of in her career so far.
“I could never have dreamt for something like that to happen. I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself, but for the assist, everyone in this league knows I’m left footed, so I thought I’d cut in on my right!
“I saw Molly in the corner of my eye, so I managed to toe poke the ball to her and she did the rest. For the goal, I knew if the keeper spilled it, it was 50/50 whether I could get there or not. I stuck my foot out and thankfully it managed to go into the net.”
It felt like the assist and the goal was the end of a very long and painful chapter in Olden’s book. ACLs have become an unfortunate part of the women’s game, and the Bluebird has certainly been through the wringer.
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“The time away is definitely the hardest thing about an ACL injury. Obviously, physically it’s a difficult one, but the mental side of it is a lot harder than the physical side.
“You can do your rehab, and you know by doing that you will get back out there, but the mental part of being away from your team, your friends, isolating yourself with rehab, that’s the hardest part.”
The one constant throughout Olden’s recovery has been the support of her teammates and her manager, both of whom were absolutely delighted with how she performed today.
“The girls have been right behind me the whole time I’ve been away. Over the last twelve months they’ve been cheering me on, they hype me up in training, and they always keep telling me to just go for it. We are a really close-knit team and the bond between us is amazing.
“Iain has been behind me 100% too. He’s always backed me, and he told me to go out and play the way I usually play and be myself.”
Now that the comeback has been complete, attention turns to what Olden and Co. could achieve for the rest of the season.
City currently sit top of the Adran Premier and are in the semi-final of the Bute Energy Welsh Cup, and as you can probably predict, trophies are high on Olden’s agenda.
“My aims for the rest of the season are to win the league as a team, win this cup competition as a team, and hopefully get a few more goals on the board!”
Trophies and victories will come and go, but moments stay with you forever, and what was clear on Olden’s face today was the fact that this day was going to stay with her for the rest of her career.
