Women's

Powell: It's a big three points

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Albion women’s first-team manager Hope Powell reflected on a 'big three points', after her side beat Birmingham City 3-0 at the Amex to claim their first FA Women's Super League win of the season.

By Jake Ketley • 17 November 2019

By Paul Hazlewood
Hope Powell giving her players instructions at the Amex.

Kayleigh Green's brace and Lea Le Garrec's stunning strike claimed the victory for Albion, and the boss stressed that the result and clean sheet were of a huge significance.

She said, “We did well. We had a game plan and we worked towards that. At times they executed that very well and at other times not so well, so there are still things to work on. The nice thing is that we scored from open play; Lea’s [Le Garrec] goal was fantastic.

“It’s important that we didn’t concede and more importantly, we got the three points. It’s been a really good day for us today; we got some much needed points at home so I’m very, very pleased.

“It’s a big win, especially considering how the table was sitting. We’re still in a dogfight, make no mistake about it and this league is very tough. There is no absolute guarantee that you are going to win or going to lose. It’s a big three points for us today, but we have an important game next week, so we go again.”

By Kyle Hemsley
Hope Powell and Lea Le Garrec.

Powell also thanked the 4,130 strong crowd who turned out at the Amex on Women’s Football Weekend, and believes that their support gave her side an extra edge.

“The fact that we played at the Amex Stadium is great, who wouldn’t want to come to this stadium? It is fantastic. I also want to say thank you to the crowd, they were very lively. The girls wanted to play for them as much as they wanted to play for themselves.

“The support was really encouraging and we’d just say ‘come along to Crawley’, we need the support, we really do. We were very thankful to the crowd today, they were great.”

By Paul Hazlewood
Kayleigh Green in action at the Amex against Birmingham City

Powell also assessed the impact of goalscorer Green, who put in a performance that the manager believes was one of her best in an Albion shirt, and also provided an update on Ellie Brazil, who got injured in the process of winning the penalty.

“I thought she [Green] had a fabulous game today, probably her best game in a Brighton shirt. She was full of running. There was quite a dead period of time before the penalty, because unfortunately Ellie [Brazil] got injured.

“I said to Kayleigh ‘are you still going to have it?’, and she said ‘always’ and she had that confidence to step up – and what a penalty it was. There was that and then the header where she scored, so I’m really pleased for her.

“To be honest I don’t know [about Brazil’s condition], she’s on crutches and I don’t know if she took a heavy knock that threw her a bit, but she’ll get a scan and we’ll be able to assess her after that.”