Christie breaks new ground with hat-trick

[Getty Images] Ryan Christie may not have been aware that he was making a little history while netting three times against Lincoln City in Bournemouth's Carabao Cup third-round tie. Tuesday's game was Bournemouth's 175th League Cup match since the competition was inaugurated in 1960, but Christie is the first Cherries player to score a League Cup hat-trick. The Scotland midfielder's only previous treble came in Celtic's 7-0 demolition of St Johnstone in August 2019. Since his move to Dorset in 2021, Christie had found the net only 10 times for the Cherries before Tuesday, despite scoring six goals for his country in that same period. However, that can be put down to playing a different role for Scotland than he does for Bournemouth, where former boss Andoni Iraola converted him to a deeper-lying central midfield role in 2023, maximising his all-action style in a position where a relative lack of goals is less of an issue. Christie has now already matched his highest Cherries goal tally for a season, having netted three in the Championship in 2021-22. Competition for places in the Cherries' engine room is fiercer than ever, with Alex Scott in the best form of his career, with the American steel of Tyler Adams his likely first-choice partner. But as ex-Bournemouth midfielder Joe Partington pointed out on BBC Radio Solent after Tuesday's game, while Christie "might not be the first name on the team sheet for the Premier League any more, he remains a massive part of this Cherries squad, and will have his part to play in their success this season". With their European debut just a week away, a busy fixture programme means Marco Rose's squad will be stretched as never before - though they will hope to avoid injuries a little closer to home, such as that recently inflicted by Christie's three-year-old son. "My little man jumped on me on the couch and broke my thumb," the Scot admitted, clutching the match ball with a heavily strapped hand. While the intensity of a cup game with Lincoln may not match that of a Premier or Europa League tie, Rose will be relieved to have a first win under his belt. And to complete a night of firsts, having started the season leading in all three league games but only collecting two points, Bournemouth recorded their first second-half goals of 2026-27 - as well as a first clean sheet, preventing a Lincolnshire poacher from grabbing a late consolation. Explore Bournemouth content on BBC Sounds