RYAN Christie says he felt “fine” with the rushed nature of Cherries’ pre-match preparations against Tottenham, joking: “Maybe we should be later to games more often!”

Due to a traffic incident on the A406, Cherries’ team coach got stuck as they travelled from their hotel to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

They finally arrived at 2.15pm, an hour later than planned. Kick-off was pushed back from 3pm to 3.15pm, with boss Gary O’Neil keen for it to be delayed even further to reduce the risk of his players picking up injuries.

Cherries fell behind, but eventually emerged 3-2 victors.

Discussing the pre-match delay, Christie told the Daily Echo: “I felt fine. There was a bit of traffic or an accident or something on the way.

“I was happy enough with the delayed kick-off. I didn’t want to wait too much longer than that.

“I actually prefer having less time going into a game.

“I think it happened at QPR last season and we played well as well. So no problems.

“Maybe we should be later to games more often!”

Jaidon Anthony, who replaced Christie during the second half, added: “It was madness before the game.

“We were sat there still for a very long time and sort of didn’t feel like we were going to get there.

“It was obviously a quick warm-up and I think the boys did well to regain focus and switch on to the job we had at hand.”