Cardiff City and Cardiff Met will renew their rivalry on Sunday in the Bute Energy Welsh Cup (KO 14:00), but for two players, this weekend will mean a little more.
Bluebirds duo Meg Bowen and Mackenzie Olden are both undergraduate students at Cardiff Met. Bowen studies Sports Performance Analysis while Olden is a Sport, Physical Education and Health student.
When they’re not working, the duo play football for the university, and Bowen explained that representing Cardiff Met is something that’s very new to them.
“In recent years we’ve never been able to play BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) football. They changed the rules this year where the club doesn’t need to be attached to a certain university in order for you to play. Players who play for other clubs in the Adran Premier or in leagues in England can now play BUCS football.
“It’s given the chance for players like us the chance to play university football, which for me was one of the big reasons I chose Cardiff Met in the first place because they have a strong football culture.”
BUCS football allows players across the country to face a whole variety of challenges, but Olden says there are plenty of differences between university football and the Adran Premier.
“In BUCS football you already have a mixture of abilities within a team. You also don’t train together as much so don’t understand how each other play as much, whereas with City, you all train together three times a week and know each other a lot more.
“In a way, that’s what makes BUCS football a little faster and a little more free flowing. Games are always high scoring because you don’t know what to expect on a gameday.”
As a result of playing for Met, both Bowen and Olden know plenty of players who turn out for the Archers in the Genero Adran South.
While Sunday will be a little peculiar, Bowen stressed the importance for her and her City teammates to not underestimate their opponents.
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“Sunday might be a little weird but it’s the same as if we would be playing any team in the league because we all have friends at other clubs. We have to treat it the same way that we would any other game.
“It is a potential banana skin for us so we’ve made sure in training that we’ve had full focus all week. We never underestimate any opposition but it’s important to put that friendliness aside for 90 minutes, and I’m sure after the game we’ll all come together and have a bit of a chat.”
However, a knowledge of players and tactics could help Bowen and Olden when it comes to facing Met this weekend.
Manager Jon Nash is in charge of the BUCS team as well as the Genero Adran South side, and Olden is very aware of how he and his team will approach the game in Leckwith.
“We’re expecting them to come out and press us. Met will always play the way they want to play no matter who the opposition is.
“We just need to focus on us and our own gameplan this weekend. We need to focus on what we want to do and make sure we go out there and score plenty of goals.”
If City are to advance to the round of 16, they could rely on Olden’s form to get them through.
Having not played for over a year with injury, the forward has been on fire this season. Olden has registered seven goals and six assists so far this season, and the striker only wants to kick on from this point.
“I’m really feeling the thrill of it at the moment. This was what I wanted to do when I came back from injury. I wanted to come back and show everyone what I can do because I never had the chance to before.
“My biggest focus during my recovery was to make myself stronger, faster and then I really worked on my individual football and my technique. I can see all that work is paying off and I hope this form continues.”
Cardiff City have held an iron grip on the Bute Energy Welsh Cup for four years now, and they don’t want to let go of their stronghold.
Iain Darbyshire’s team are looking to become only the second team in the history of the competition to win five consecutive Welsh Cups, and Bowen says that this is a tournament that they aim to win every year.
“This was the competition that spurred us on to get on this trophy winning run that we’re on now. In the season before I joined, this was the first trophy that Cardiff City won in a while, then we went on two win a lot of league titles and cup competitions.
“The Welsh Cup means a lot to us. It’s a trophy that we always go out and try to win every year. The FAW always put on a good show for the final, it feels like a big event, and it’s somewhere we want to put ourselves every year.
“We know we’re good enough to win it but it’s all about how we turn up and how we play on the pitch.”
