CHERRIES star Ryan Christie is one of three players to join up to Scotland duty early ahead of next month's huge World Cup play-off against Ukraine.

Steve Clarke's men host Ukraine in Glasgow on Wednesday, June 1, knowing victory would take them just one match away from their first World Cup finals in 24 years.

The winners of that tie will head to Cardiff to face Wales on Sunday, June 5, to book their spot at Qatar.

Christie, who started the season with Celtic, joined Cherries for £2.5million in August and played a key role in the club clinching promotion to the Premier League.

The 27-year-old provided three goals and eight assists from his 38 Championship appearances.

But, after just a week off following the end of Cherries' season, Christie has returned to training.

As revealed on Scotland national team's Instagram page, the midfielder has joined QPR striker Lyndon Dykes and Stoke City's player of the season Jacob Brown for what Scotland have described as a "mini training camp" at the University of St Andrews "to keep match fit".

Inverness-born Christie has 28 caps for his country.