Swindonian is Liverpool FC Women player and Welsh international

Forward Georgia Walters has also played at clubs including Swindon, Reading and Tranmere Rovers, and attributes much of her success to having to train with boys' squads when younger.

The former Ridgeway School pupil said: "I always remember being a young kid and watching dad play on Saturday afternoons, so I got into football at a relatively young age. I was playing by the time I was about four and I've loved it ever since.

"At the time I played for my local boys' team, which dad used to run, alongside playing for the girls' team as well, and I got to a certain age where you can't play mixed football anymore.

"I think I was 13. I used to train at school with the lads up until 18 and I think that's what's given me the competitive edge over the years, training with the boys.

"There's nothing like it. You don't have time to be slow, or to have bad reactions or a bad touch."

In those early days, Georgia often heard opposition players pointing out that their adversaries had a girl on the team - but when she walked from the field at the end of th match having scored more goals than anybody else they tended to think of her simply as a player from that point onwards.

When Georgia's family moved north four years ago, she got in touch with local team Tranmere Rovers and secured a place.

A stint with Blackburn followed, and Georgia secured her place with Liverpool earlier this year.

Her personal career highlights so far are her first matches after her international call-up during the pandemic, when Wales - she plays because of her ancestry on her father's side - faced the Faroe Islands and Norway.

The sheer joy of playing has never left her.

"It's exciting. As a forward player you always want to put the ball in the back of the net. You try not to think of the pressure, the moment, as much. It's just doing what you know best, playing to your strengths. For me it's finding the back of the net or getting into those positions.

"I would think if you over- complicate it and try and think further down the line, you'll mess up."