Celtic defender Anthony Ralston has been at the centre of media attention over the last few days following Scotland’s draw with Switzerland at EURO 2024.
The 25-year-old featured for the entire 90 minutes in Cologne, and his loose pass for Xherdan Shaqiri’s equaliser on the night has received airtime.
Nevertheless, he was far from the only one to blame, observing the structure of Steve Clarke’s defensive line and careless ball usage in the lead-up.
Either way, Ralston showed remarkable strong-mindedness to produce a spirited second-half showing, providing an offensive threat down the right flank that very nearly told.
Scotland now stand on the precipice of history, with a victory against Hungary likely enough to catapult them into the knockout stages of a competition for the first time ever.
Former Celtic man Jack Hendry on Anthony Ralston
Cited via The Scotsman, Hendry has joined Andy Robertson and Callum McGregor in lauding his bouncebackability in difficult circumstances, praising his reaction and determination to not let the incident affect the rest of his performance.
He said: “There is no getting away from it. There are millions of people watching. You have to take the emotions out of it, draw a line under it forget the way it happened and reset.
“Thankfully Tony was able to do that. It is not easy. Not a lot of people would be able to do that. There has to be a lot of respect for Tony in that instance. Some people would not know what to do in those circumstances, with millions watching. I thought he reacted really well.”
Ralston experiences constant situations where mental strength is required to see you through at Celtic, and it is no surprise he took that mantra into his Scotland exploits on a day where the national side kept their chances of progression alive.
Should he start on Sunday against Hungary, hopefully, he can achieve history in Stuttgart by helping the Tartan Army reach the Round of 16.