JAMES Hill believes his loan move to Hearts will prove a “great stepping stone” to give himself a “fighting chance next season” of making an impact at Cherries.

Hill, who turns 21 today, has made the move north to join the Scottish Premiership outfit until the end of the campaign.

The centre-back has struggled for game-time since moving to Cherries from Fleetwood Town last January, featuring in just four competitive first-team fixtures.

Hill has been behind the likes of Chris Mepham, Lloyd Kelly, Jack Stephens and Marcos Senesi this season, and also had to compete for minutes with Nat Phillips and Gary Cahill last season.

Now he will hope to get the chance to feature more regularly, and could debut against St Mirren in the Premiership at Tynecastle on Friday night.

Discussing his move, Hill told Hearts TV: “I’m so happy. I’m over the moon to be fair.

“I can’t wait to get started and get playing in front of this big crowd.

“It’s obviously a new experience for myself and getting to where I want to get to in the future.

“I think this is a great stepping stone in getting to where I want to get to.”

He added: “It’s a massive club, it’s got great history and the players that are involved in this team, it’s a team where it can actually help improve myself and give me a great fighting chance next season going back into the Bournemouth side.”

Other clubs were linked with a move for Hill this month.

Asked why he opted to make the switch to Edinburgh, and what boss Robbie Neilson and sporting director Joe Savage did to convince him, Hill explained: “They showed me things that I’m very good at but they’ve also showed me things that I need to get better at.

“I do think those areas I can get better at and I think this is the perfect place to do that, with the style of play these guys play.

“I think it will be good for me to come here, play some games and get some more minutes under my belt and start implementing that style of play into my own.”

Neilson’s Jam Tarts currently sit third in the table, behind only Celtic and Rangers, and are pushing for European qualification.

They are also still competing in the Scottish Cup, with a fourth round tie against rivals Hibernian to come later this month.