Ralston certain Scotland mentality is in good place

Defender Anthony Ralston believes Scotland deserved more from their opening two games in the new Nations League campaign but says they must not dwell on missed opportunities.

Steve Clarke’s side lost to Poland and Portugal but acquitted themselves well despite slipping to defeats that extended Scotland’s run without a win in competitive matches to eight games.

The Celtic right-back is certain the squad is in the right frame of mind to tackle Croatia on Saturday.

“We’re in a good place as a squad, there’s good morale in the team,” he said.

“The aim is to get a win, at the very least a point on the board. Over the course of the last two games, I believe we deserved more out of the games.

“Unfortunately in football, sometimes that doesn’t happen. It’s down to us as a team – as individuals and a squad – to put those wee things right to ensure we take something away from these games, which we’ve deserved.

“It’s very difficult [to keep spirits up] when you deserve results from your performances and they don’t come.

“It can become taxing personally and as a team and as a squad. But, we have a really good squad of boys and it’s important we use that going into games in the future and we don’t dwell too much on the past as there are a lot of positives to take from performances.”