ANTHONY RALSTON believes Celtic’s Three Musketeers’ attitude will give them the edge in the pursuit of their fifth successive title.
The stirring motto of Alexandre Dumas’ chivalrous and flamboyant swordsmen was the famous mantra of “all for one and one for all” as they swashbuckled their way to daring deeds through French fiction of another era.
Ralston, who made a rare start in the champions’ hard-fought 1-0 victory over St Mirren at Parkhead on Saturday, insists that team spirit will be crucial in the five-game run-in to the championship crescendo.
The Hoops are three points adrift of Hearts and two behind Rangers after all three contenders won at the weekend.
ROARING SUCCESS…Anthony Ralston celebrates Celtic’s 3-1 Premier Sports League Cup semi-final win over Danny Rohl’s Ibrox side in November.
Both the Tynecastle and Ibrox clubs are scheduled to visit the east end of Glasgow, of course, before the final curtain comes down on a frantic campaign.
Looking at the challenging situation, Ralston said: “I’m not within the walls of other squads or in the other teams that are involved, but I am within our walls and within our changing room and I know we have a strong mentality.
“We have a great captain in Callum McGregor who has an elite mentality and he has shown that over the years.
“He’s the one who leads us and we have boys who are behind him and we are all moving towards the same goal as a collective.
“That is just about honesty and it shows in games, like against St Mirren, where we had to grind out a 1-0 win.”
Ralston, speaking to the Daily Mail, continued: “We have a great squad in terms of having experience, not just myself, we have Cal, James Forrest and also Liam Scales who has been terrific over the last couple of years.
FIST IN TIME…Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain displays his joy after a Celtic victory.
“We now have Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who is very experienced in terms of his own career, so we have a very experienced group and we need to use that as much as we can.
“We need to help the other boys who have not been in this scenario along the way and right to the finish.”
Ralston, who hopes to be included in Steve Clarke’s Scotland World Cup Finals squad in the summer, has dropped down the pecking order this season behind Alistair Johnston, Colby Donovan and on-loan Julian Araujo, stepped up at the weekend with all three team-mates ruled out through injury.
The defender added: “Nobody would say they are satisfied when they are not playing. But this has been my club since I was a boy, so I am never going to let anyone down.
“I’m going to keep working and be ready whenever called upon.”
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