ANDONI Iraola is looking forward to the “new experience” of the FA Cup ahead of Cherries’ tie with Queens Park Rangers this afternoon (3pm).

Cherries start their FA Cup campaign at the third-round stage with a trip to Championship basement dwellers QPR.

It will be Iraola’s first taste of the world’s oldest knockout cup competition – and also the curiosities of replays, which are not used in the Copa del Rey, Spain’s equivalent of the tournament.

“For me, it's a new experience and I think it's also a different format,” Iraola started.

“This rule about the replays, you know, if you tie is new for the ones that come from the outside and we will have to learn quickly, adapt quickly.

“I think it's a competition with a big history behind, it's the big cup here.

“But we only have guaranteed one game. We have to earn the right to continue and have bigger hopes.”

Any replay would interrupt Cherries’ winter break, with the club’s next game currently scheduled for Sunday, January 21 against Liverpool.

But if Cherries have to schedule another fixture to secure passage to the fourth round, then it is a price Iraola is happy to pay.

He told the Daily Echo: “I want to avoid the replay - I prefer to win the game, obviously, but I prefer much more to play the replay than to lose the game.

“This is very obvious.

“It's okay if we have to go to the replay, we go to the replay.

“We are not going to start doing stupid things if we are tied in stoppage time because the first priority is continuing the competition.

“This is, for me, very clear.

“If we can win it much better, and we will try to go there and try to attack from the beginning and play our way.

“But maybe we have to tie the game - we are suffering and that is a good result because they are putting us under pressure and we have to play the second game.

“This is the priorities for me, quite clear.”