Anthony Ralston vows to ‘cherish every moment’ with Scotland

Anthony Ralston is cherishing every moment he gets in a Scotland strip as he looks to build on Friday’s win over Croatia.

Ralston won his 17th cap in the 1-0 Hampden victory, which kept Scotland alive in the UEFA Nations League ahead of Monday’s final group game against Poland in Warsaw.

The Celtic player has been an ever-present for his country during Euro 2024 and the Nations League campaign after being thrust into the starting line-up following injuries to Nathan Patterson and Aaron Hickey.

But Ralston, who turned 26 on Saturday, will not start to think the right-back slot is his to lose.

“The way I view it, it’s just an honour to represent my country every time I do it,” he said. “I don’t take it for granted.

“My family come out and support me every time. I try and cherish every moment whilst it’s here. I’ll continue to try and do the best job I can for my country.”

Ralston delivered a solid performance against Croatia as Scotland recorded a second clean sheet in succession, and he linked well with former Celtic team-mate Ben Doak on the right.

“We’ve finished on a reasonable enough high against Portugal, getting the draw,” he said. “We came into this camp wanting victories and we’ve started well, so we just need to go out to Poland and look for the second.”

Scotland have made progress with results but performances have been encouraging since section A1 started with a 3-2 defeat by Poland. Ralston conceded a penalty as Poland went two ahead but Scotland fought back well in the second half before Grant Hanley’s rash tackle allowed the visitors to net their second spot-kick in stoppage-time.

“There was a lot of positives, a few individual errors, one of them being my own, but you learn from these,” he said. “You gain experiences. We’ve gained it both on a personal level and as a team, so we’ll get ready.

“We know the qualities that they have, of course, the same as Friday night, but the win gave us massive confidence and we’ll go over there confident and ready to go.

“Croatia are a top team, good top players, we were aware of that coming into the game. But we knew, especially from the last camp, that the performances were there but it was just the end result, and none of us were content with that.

“To come away with a result, especially against a team like Croatia, we’re really happy with. We’ve got the win and we move on to Poland.”

Scotland will avoid automatic relegation if they win while also boosting their hopes of moving into pot two for the World Cup qualifying draw.

Clarke’s side could also still finish second in the group and secure entry to the Nations League quarter-finals if Croatia lose to Portugal and goal difference turns in their favour.