Powell: Lee fitter and faster than ever

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South Korea international was involved in both of Albion's goals against Reading on Sunday.

Charlie Hanson

2022-09-27T05:00:00Z

Geummin Lee celebrates after putting Albion in front.

Geummin Lee will be a ‘real asset’ for Albion this season, according to first-team manager Hope Powell.

The 28-year-old scored the opening goal against Reading on Sunday, before teeing up Katie Robinson for what proved to be the winning goal.

While the South Korea international played a key role in the result, Powell wanted to see even more from Lee after her first-half performance.

“She wasn’t at her best in the first half by her own standards. She gave the ball away more than I have ever known, I told her off at half-time but she sorted herself out.

Geummin Lee netted Albion's first goal of the season in the 2-1 win over Reading.

“Lee is a fantastic footballer and really popular with the girls. When she’s on her game she’s a joy to watch. She did really well to set Robbo up and that’s what we expect for a player of her ability, we’re really happy with the outcome.

“She’s dictating play more, got a really good understanding of when to press and when not to. She’s a pleasure to have and will be a real asset for the season.

“She’s fitter and faster. She’s been diligent with the things we’ve asked her to do, so credit to the medical staff. She’s a fantastic footballer.”

Lee was over the moon to score in front of over 5200 Albion fans who had made their way to the Amex for our opening WSL home game of the new season.

“I am happy, it’s difficult for me to express how much! The first half was tough, I was overthinking things, I struggled a bit. I am very happy to win and get the three points though.

“I will always keep trying and then I scored. I thought it was going to go wide, thank God it didn’t. It was an important goal, in my opinion we could have been 3-0 up in the first half, we needed to show more composure on the ball.”

The result comes off the back of a tough opening game against Arsenal, where Albion went down to ten players early on following Emma Kullberg’s red card, with the game finishing in a 4-0 defeat.

Despite that, Albion put in a disciplined performance against one of the title favourites.

“We played very well at Arsenal in the circumstances, we worked as a group, we stuck together and that showed against Reading,” Lee continued. “We deserved to win on Sunday.”