Scotland star bags unlikely hat-trick - seven years on from first treble with Celtic

The Cherries were convincing winners over the Championship side at the Vitality Stadium, with Christie in excellent form on his first start under the club’s new head coach Marco Rose.

Christie, 31, has largely been a mainstay for the English Premier League outfit since his move to the south coast in 2021 but is facing a battle to be a regular under Rose, who took over from now Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola this summer.

However, Christie did his cause no harm at all with a dominant display to move Bournemouth into the last 16 of the competition. He was joined in the starting XI by fellow Scot Ben Gannon-Doak, who like Christie has had to be content with the subs bench in the early part of the season.

The duo combined on seven minutes for the opening goal by Christie and the former Inverness and Celtic man netted further strikes on 69 and 88 minutes, with Rayan stepping off the bench to wrap up the victory in stoppage time.

Lincoln started brightly, but it was Bournemouth who opened the scoring after just seven minutes when Christie finished neatly at the near post from Gannon-Doak’s cross. The lively Gannon-Doak then saw an effort blocked by Ryley Towler after cutting in from the left wing and shooting right-footed.

James Hill then fired over from distance as Bournemouth went hunting for a second goal. Six minutes before half-time Cherries left-back Julio Soler curled wide from 25 yards after David Brooks’ corner had been only half cleared. Hill also had a shot from the edge of the penalty deflected behind for a corner before Christie’s 20-yard curler was palmed away by Joe Gauci with the last kick of the first half.

Bournemouth most doubled their lead five minutes into the second half when Gannon-Doak’s curling effort glanced off the head of Alvaro Rodriguez and flew just over the crossbar. Gannon-Doak then ballooned another long-range effort over in the 55th minute.

Hill came close to picking out the top corner with a 25-yard piledriver which smacked against the angle of post and crossbar. Rodriguez had another good chance to open his Bournemouth account moments later but slipped as he went to shoot from the edge of the box and fired high into the stands. The £21million Rodriguez later headed inches wide from Hill’s cross as he endured a frustrating full debut.

Christie showed Rodriguez the route to goal 21 minutes from time by heading in Brooks’ corner at the far post. And the Scotland midfielder completed his treble in the 88th minute with a deflected shot from 14 yards out after being teed up by Diakite. Rayan made it 4-0 in stoppage time with a tidy finish from the corner of the six-yard box.

What Rose said about Christie

A delighted Rose said afterwards: “It was a deserved win and a really good performance from the lads. It was a top performance for 94 minutes and we had many shots on and off target. I think we only gave one chance away, so I am really happy.

“Ryan is a nice guy. We really love him and he deserved it. He came back from an injury, worked hard and now he’s back in shape. It’s good for us because the upcoming time is really busy and we need everyone.

“In the next few weeks we have European football, cups in England and the Premier League is getting very demanding. I’m new in this club, new in this country, but it’s about winning games and winning titles.”

It was Christie’s second hat-trick of his senior career - the first coming more than seven years ago when he bagged a treble for Celtic in a 7-0 win over St Johnstone on the opening day of the 2019/20 season.

Both Christie and Gannon-Doak will hope to be selected in the next Scotland squad, which will be selected by new head coach Sebastien Pocognoli next week.