ANTHONY RALSTON proved to Brendan Rodgers he is ready, willing and able to play his part for Celtic in the league and Cup double run-in.
The right-back has now started more games for Scotland than the champions this season – eight for his country and six for his club – as he has played in the shadow of Alistair Johnston at Parkhead.
However, Ralston emphasised his fitness in the two back-to-back UEFA Nations League games against Greece that unfortunately ended in a 3-1 aggregate loss.
The defender played 89 minutes of the 1-0 win in Piraeus on Thursday and the full match at Hampden last night where he was blameless in Steve Clarke’s side’s humiliating 3-0 nosedive that saw the manager and team booed off by a raging Tartan Army at full-time.
BY THE RIGHT…Anthony Ralston fires over a cross as Scotland toil against Greece.
The result coupled with Kasper Schmeichel’s Denmark losing 5-3 on aggregate to Portugal means the nations will face each other in the World Cup 2026 qualifiers.
Also in the group will be last night’s conquerors Greece and Belarus with Scotland opening the bid with a trip to Copenhagen to face the Danes in September.
Following the resounding loss at the national stadium, team chief Clarke admitted: “I’ll go away and look at myself to see what I could have done better.
“We have to analyse it, park this tournament because we go down to League B, and try to do better.
“To finish such a positive Nations League campaign on such a low note with such a poor performance is something that will hurt the players.
“We will go away, we have got plenty time to stew on it before our next competitive game.
HIGH HOPES…Celtic-bound Kieran Tierney has lift-off while Steve Clarke watches from the touchline.
“We have got two friendlies in June and we have to address one or two things and try to be better going forward.”
Greece raced to a two-goal interval advantage through strikes from Giannis Konstantelias and Konstantinos Karetsas before a wayward pass inside from Ryan Christie was seized upon only 17 seconds into the second-half.
That set up a lightning counter-attack and Christos Tzolis walloped No.3 past the stranded Craig Gordon.
Clarke, speaking to the Scottish Sun, continued: “We didn’t have enough energy in the team, Greece had more energy and were a bit sharper. So the better team won on the night.
“I wasn’t overly disappointed with the defenders. I thought the back four did reasonably okay.
HAMPDEN HEADACHE…Craig Gordon can’t hide his disappointment.
“I was disappointed with the defending of the team. We didn’t defend as a team.
“If there is one thing I have learned over my time in charge of the national team is there are bumps in the road.
“It is how you react to it and we have to react to this one and make sure that come June we know what we are trying to address and come September we know what we are trying to do which is qualify for the World Cup.”
Triumphant Greek coach Ivan Jovanovic admitted he can’t wait to return to Hampden and added: “We really enjoyed it and look forward to playing here again in a few months.”
