Fliss Gibbons is loving every minute of her time at Albion Women in her second spell at the club.

The 25-year-old is in her second season back at the club but a lot has changed since her first spell at the club back in 2014.

She said: “I’m loving every minute. It is completely different now to when I was here before it was a semi-professional side, so it’s a very different experience for me now.

“It is quite a lot of different personalities and coaching staff, but I am loving every minute. I’m learning, I’m in a new position and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

Something that has changed for Gibbons since the arrival of Hope Powell back in July 2017 is here playing role.

Gibbons was a prolific striker prior to re-joining Albion scoring 33 goals in 19 games for Gillingham and she talked about how the switch from attack to defence came about.

She said: “It has got a little bit easier now because I have been in a more defensive role.

“This is my second season so to begin with it was a challenge there was a lot to learn.

“But when Hope came in she said she saw me more a left-back than a wide forward or a striker, so I was happy to play there and it’s actually been nice to learn and develop different parts of my game.”

The challenge for Gibbons was trying to adapt to a new position in the elite Barclays FA WSL.

She said: “I’m playing against the best players in the country, probably Europe and the world as well, some of the best strikers.

“It has definitely been a challenge. There were some tough lessons last season probably, individually and collectively as a whole, with the step up to the WSL.

“It has been enjoyable and when I signed my professional contract with Albion I knew it was always going to be difficult and a step up from the level I had played before, but I have enjoyed it.”

Albion recruited over the summer bringing in Danique Kerkdijk, Megan Walsh, Lea Le Garrec and Matilde Skovsen and Gibbons says they have fitted in well.

She said: “They have been brilliant we have definitely strengthened ourselves as a back four and, with Megan coming in as well, we feel we are more solid at the back.

“We take a lot of pride in trying to be hard to beat and we have definitely been that so far this season.

“Lea has come in as a No.10, a creative midfielder and she has offered us a bit more going forward.

“They have settled in well on and off the pitch, we are a tight knit group and it hasn’t taken long for them to feel part of the team.”

But just what are the aims for Albion this season?

Gibbons said:“We would like to improve on last season’s finish. We were happy with where we finished last season and we were happy to stay in the league.

“We want to push on this year and compete with the teams that finished two, three or four places above us last season. “When we play the bigger teams, it’s to test ourselves against them and see where we are at and hopefully the following season we will look to improve again.”

The left-back also thinks Albion are a much stronger side than they were last season.

She said: “I think definitely as players we feel like we’re in a lot better position starting this season than we were last time.

“We learned some tough lessons last season and a lot of our ambitions in the last campaign were just to stay in the league, knowing we had a lot to learn, a lot we wanted to learn so we could establish ourselves in the league and push on this season.