Brighton & Hove Albion manager Hope Powell says that South Korean international Lee Geum-min feels both happy and confident playing for the club.
The 27-year-old spent last season on loan with The Seagulls from parent club Manchester City but joined Albion on a permanent basis in the summer.
Lee had to wait until the final month of last season before hitting the goal trail in an Albion shirt but she netted in the very first game this season as Powell’s side defeated West Ham United 2-0 at The Amex Stadium yesterday.
Discussing Lee’s impact in the post-match press conference in which FAWSL Full-Time were present, Powell said “We wanted her to stay and more importantly, she wanted to stay. I had a really nice message from her agent this week waxing lyrical about how happy she is and how she is full of confidence. She’s not only a good player, she’s a lovely person, she’s very popular and she’s very funny.
“She wanted to stay and you could see her talents even though it wasn’t her best game today. Her contribution over last season, her contribution today with the goal – her and Dan (Carter) link very well together so hopefully we can get a lot more out of her in the coming weeks.”
Despite the player not being at her best against The Hammers, Powell acknowledged the hard work that Lee is doing to become the best that she can be for the club.
She said “It’s great that she scored a goal but at times it was hard for her, the conditions made it tough. It was probably the most that I’ve seen her give the ball away actually, she over-ran it a couple of times, got caught a couple of times. Was it her best day? By her standards, probably no.
“She contributed with a goal, she works very hard and has worked very hard to understand the way that we want her to play. As well as doing the attacking bit, she has to do the defending bit and she has worked very hard at that. The fact that she has worked very hard in getting her fitness up can only be of greater benefit to us.
“Her goal, her technical ability is second to none, she plays a very important role for us but today wasn’t her best.”
Lee will be hoping to build on her goalscoring start when Brighton & Hove Albion travel to Birmingham City next weekend.