DETERMINED Ryan Christie insisted Cherries’ potential seven-game path back to the Premier League was “exciting” and added: “This is exactly why I joined.”

The Scotland international was speaking after the Dorset club ground out an important point on the road in a goalless draw at play-off chasing Sheffield United on Saturday.

That draw left Cherries second in the table, in the automatic promotion spots and six points ahead of third-placed Nottingham Forest.

Both Cherries and Forest have played 39 games in total, heading into a season finale in which the sides still have to face each other.

Asked how he rated the position Cherries were in going into the final seven games, the 27-year-old said: “Exciting, that’s the most important thing.

“We keep reminding ourselves of that before these games.

“Of course, you are going to have the kind of nerves and the nervous energy building up but that’s a good thing.

“This is the kind of football games you want to be involved in.

“At the start of the season, if you had put us in this position - where we are now with seven games to go - we would have probably bit your hand off.

“Now it’s about hopefully seeing out the job, taking it game by game and enjoying the challenge ahead.”

Having arrived from Celtic on transfer deadline day last August, Christie is used to seeing out a league campaign in the upper echelons of a table.

Asked how much the knowhow of winning titles in Scotland would benefit him in his latest challenge, the Inverness-born star replied: “I know it’s a bit of a cliché but you take it game by game.

“You look at the games we are playing, it’s mostly against teams in the top half of the table or teams round about us, so it kind of adds fuel to the fire and gives you that extra edge going into the games.

“I think we had that on Saturday. There were periods of the game, especially coming here, where we kind of dominated it and really enforced our play on the game which will give us confidence going into these games.

“The gaffer touched on it – if we perform like that in all seven of these games coming up, we will have a right good chance.”

Quizzed on what it would be like for him to seal his place at England’s elite level, Christie said: “I’ve made it no secret, that’s why I wanted to join the club in the first place.

“The manager and the powers above said to me they wanted to give a serious promotion push this year. I really wanted to be part of that.

“This is exactly why I joined – to be in this situation. The run-in and really testing ourselves and hopefully getting over the line.”

He added: “The boys are hungry. Everyone has got the same goal, everyone is pushing towards that goal.

“You can see in training, day-in, day-out, everyone is pushing each other.

“That comes from the manager and the staff but from the boys as well.

“You put yourself right now - seven games to go, seven massive games and everyone pushing towards that goal.

“Everybody is desperate to bring success to this football club, do it for each other and do it for themselves.”