West Ham United starlet Elliot Lee might have been under the weather in recent weeks but the goals continue to come all the same.
The 18-year-old forward bagged his 13th of the season in Friday night's 2-1 Barclays Under-21 Premier League win over Liverpool with another finish of the very highest order.
Lee skipped past Reds captain Stephen Sama before clinically slotting into the far corner, a sight that is happily becoming a familiar one.
Like any good marksman, Lee loves nothing more than hitting the back of the net and was chuffed with the latest in an increasingly long line of goals.
He told West Ham TV: "As a striker and as a goalscorer, you've got to be confident and composed in those positions. To be honest, I've done this since I was Under-eight at this club, so I love being in those positions and I love scoring goals.
"It's going, really well. I've been ill for a week and off training, but I came back last week and got a goal, [even though] I didn't play my best. But this week I thought I played really well, I got my goal as well and it was a great win for the team.
"I'm just getting my sharpness back and on Friday it looked like I'd got it back. I took on my man and slid it in the corner, so I'm really happy with my goal."
Far from flying solo, Lee is a key part of an in-form Development Squad, on the back of successive home wins. Those six points have propelled the Hammers to within just four points of the top three and a place in the end-of-season Play-Offs.
He continued: "It's brilliant. We're loving our football at the minute, as you can see. You can see on the pitch, we're passing it around, there were some great moves out there and we thoroughly deserved the win.
"We went up to Liverpool earlier in the season and they had a really strong side out. It wasn't quite so strong on Friday, but we still beat them and were deserved winners. Manchester United lost as well, so we've still got a chance of getting in the top three.
"We're playing really well at the minute, playing some great stuff, so hopefully we can go to Southampton, get the three points, then again at West Brom and end up in that top three."
While the prospect of the competition's semi-finals is motivation enough, reward might also come in the form of a second senior run-out for Lee. The Durham-born forward made his first-team bow at Old Trafford in January and is hoping for more of the same before the season's end.
"We've been told that once the first-team is safe, hopefully they'll blood some of the youngsters through and hopefully I'll be one of them.
"It has been a brilliant season, I've made my first-team debut, which was brilliant and maybe I can get another appearance towards the end of the season. [I want to] carry on scoring goals for the Development Squad and hopefully finish as high as possible."
