CHERRIES defender James Hill feels he made the “perfect choice” to join Blackburn Rovers on loan.

Hill is currently on loan at Ewood Park in the second tier of English football, playing temporarily for Rovers in his second move away from Cherries since joining the south coast club from Fleetwood Town in January 2022.

This term the 21-year-old has made 12 appearances for his loan club, who currently sit seventh in the Championship.

As quoted by the Lancashire Times, Hill commented: “I think I made the perfect choice, coming here.

“I have learnt so much and there is so much I have added to my game while playing here.

“Hopefully, the progression in my game carries on and I can continue to learn. That is all I want to do, keep learning.

“It has been massively beneficial to my game and hopefully we can keep working hard every day in training to get to that next level.”

Predominantly playing as a right-back in Lancashire, Hill scored his first goal for Blackburn on Wednesday night in a 4-2 win over Birmingham City.

“Big shout-out to the fans because all I hear was ‘Shoot!’”, Hill began to explain.

“I didn’t even pick my head up, I just hit it and hoped for the best.

“Thankfully, it went in.

Ever since (hitting the woodwork against Coventry), the crowd have been backing me to shoot from distance and thankfully it paid off.

“It was end-to-end at times, I think we made it hard for ourselves at certain points in the game. But overall, another good performance from the boys and I am happy to contribute to that.

“I would have liked it a bit more plain sailing because they did make a comeback at one point, but we did well and showed maturity to see it out and get another goal.”