Georgia Timms has made personal sacrifices to play play football for Hearts in Edinburgh but she declared: “I am absolutely loving it.”
The club, coaches and players all help to produce a welcoming environment after spells with Oxford United and Lewes in Sussex, but her move north means she is distanced from friends and family.
They are centred around the Cotswolds, a picturesque region in central-southwest England, set in rolling hills.
On Sunday, the 24-year-old (picture courtesy of the Scottish Women’s Premier League and taken by Malcolm Mackenzie) could play a key role as the Jambos aim to create a six-point gap over their Capital rivals, Hibs, in the Scottish Women’s Premier League table.
Currently, Hearts are fourth with 30 points from 18 fixtures while Hibs have climbed to fifth. They have 27 points from 18 games and could go above their city rivals with a win at Tynecastle on Sunday. Hearts have a goal difference of seven and Hibs are on nine.
The game kicks-off at 13.10 and is also for the Capital Cup, supported by Baillie Gifford, and entry is free. The previous clash in late November saw Hearts take the lead but Hibs clawed their way back and eventually won the silverware in a nerve-wracking, penalty shootout before more than 8,000 fans at Easter Road.
Hearts have won one and drawn two of their last five league games while Hibs have won three and lost two and Timms said: “We’ve had tough games recently.”
They have included a joust with league pace-setters Glasgow City (a 3-0 reverse), second-placed Celtic (a 2-1 defeat) and Rangers, who are third (a 0-0 draw), but Georgia said that the fixtures have pushed the club to find their best form.
She added: “We’ve striving to get something out of the top three and we managed to get a point out of Rangers. We have, however, showed we can compete with the top three.
“However, this season we want to get a win out of one of them.”
And spirits are high after a thumping 4-1 win over Partick Thistle, who are sixth in the 12-strong table, in their last game. That was in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup and Georgie said: “We have lacked goals at times this season so to get four was brilliant.
“Now it is Hibs on Sunday and we hope to get as many people in (to watch) as possible. We want to be inspiring young kids to play football but we are just looking at collecting three points which count towards the league.”
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