Anthony Ralston has had limited opportunities in a Celtic shirt this season, so it was always going to be a challenge for him when thrust into Scotland’s starting lineup for a high-profile international match.
Steve Clarke, the Scotland manager, placed his trust in Ralston by naming him in the starting eleven to face Poland on Thursday night, as Scotland embarked on their UEFA Nations League campaign.
This year marks Scotland’s first appearance in the top division of the Nations League, where they face a tough group, including upcoming fixtures against European heavyweights Portugal and Croatia. With such challenging matches ahead, securing a positive result at home to Poland was seen as crucial.
Unfortunately for Ralston and his teammates, the night did not unfold as they had hoped. Scotland lost 3-2, with two of Poland’s goals coming from penalties, one of which was conceded by Ralston himself.
Despite the defensive setback, Ralston’s overall performance for Scotland was not harshly criticised across the board.
The Celtic defender, who has struggled for game time at club level this season, showed some promising signs during the match, even managing to contribute an assist for Scott McTominay’s goal.
Ralston earned a seven out of ten rating from The Herald, with their assessment highlighting both the positive and negative aspects of his display. They wrote:
“Did himself no harm with a good performance. Unfortunately for him, was at fault for Poland’s penalty. He was a yard off the pace as he clumsily came through the back of his opponent. He recovered well with a brilliant cutback for Scotland’s equaliser. For the most part he was sharp, got stuck in, was willing to play forward and not always take the safe route.”
The Edinburgh Evening News were slightly less generous, giving him a six, and noting:
“With the Scots still ravaged by injuries at right-back, the Celtic man was given the nod despite his lack of game time at club level. Timely first-half intervention to cut out Lewandowski’s pass with a team-mate lurking in behind. Conceded the penalty after a clumsy challenge on Zalewski. Made up for that error by playing his part in McTominay’s second-half equaliser.”
The Scotsman was more critical of Ralston’s display, awarding him a five, and commenting: “Had some nice touches early on, but his foul for the penalty was needless and he struggled to recover from that mistake for the majority of the second period.”
However, statistical analyses were much kinder to Ralston. FotMob rated him as Scotland’s top performer on the night, awarding him a 7.9 rating – the highest of anyone in the squad.
Ralston’s numbers were impressive: he won nine out of 12 duels, completed all four of his attempted tackles, and maintained a strong passing accuracy, misplacing only three passes throughout the 90 minutes.
While the conceded penalty was undoubtedly a mistake, Ralston’s overall contribution was solid, especially considering he had played just 51 minutes of club football this season prior to the match.
As Celtic head into a busy autumn period, Ralston will likely feature more frequently for the Bhoys in domestic competitions.
With his confidence seemingly intact after a mixed but respectable performance for Scotland, he has the chance to prove he is capable of performing at a high level in the Scottish Premiership.