Dover well on the road to recovery for Magpies
After nearly two years out through injury, Maidenhead United Women’s Alex Dover is well on the recovery trail, writes Neil Maskell.
It was an innocuous incident at Larkhall Athletic’s ground on the first day of the 2020/21 FA Women’s National League season in September 2020 which saw tough-tackling Alex unusually let out a scream of pain.
She explained: “I was completing a sharp turn during the match and I just felt something in my knee go and I knew straight away it was something bad. It turned out that I had ruptured my ACL in my left knee.
“I went to the hospital the next day due to the swelling and I was told that I had sprained the ligaments in my knee after having it x-rayed and was given a crutch to help get around. I was initially told I would be out for a few weeks.
“After a few weeks, I was still unable to straighten my leg properly and that’s when I knew it wasn’t a sprain. I attempted to get referred through my GP but unfortunately due to
COVID I wasn’t getting anywhere so I then decided to go private to obtain the correct diagnosis. I only obtained the correct diagnosis 10 months after sustaining the injury.
“The operation to repair the ACL took place two weeks short of a year since I sustained the injury.”
Dover added: “Since the operation, I started my rehab the next day.
“Obviously, minimal exercises initially but it was to get the mobility back in my leg straight away and since then I have attended physio numerous times, going through several different exercise programmes.
“For the majority of my rehab, I have spent four days a week attending the gym working on building my hamstring muscle up – as this is what they took to replace my ACL – and improving my general fitness as I have been out of football for so long.”
The hard-working midfielder is finally back in the reckoning for selection and has appeared in the Magpies recent preseason matches against Wycombe Wanderers and MK Dons.
“I was nervous at first but as soon as I got on the pitch I loved being back out there again after so long out,” she added.
“I am obviously focusing on getting match fitness back and personally the first two games have gone well in terms of trying to gain my fitness.”
Maidenhead kick off their new Division One South West campaign at Portishead on Sunday (September 4). They're the only side in the division who are yet to play a league fixture.