THERE has been a firm consensus of opinion on the future incumbent of Scotland’s right wing-back role ever since Nathan Patterson caused a stir by claiming a place in Steve Clarke’s squad for the European Championships last summer.

Now at Everton, Patterson had just emerged into the senior side at Ibrox under Steven Gerrard when his precocious performances were enough to warrant inclusion in the national side.

The expectation since then has been that the position, held by Stephen O’Donnell, would be Patterson’s with Aaron Hickey vying to take it. Few would have considered, especially this time 12 months ago, that Anthony Ralston would be a contender.

The Celtic full-back has had an exemplary season as the Parkhead side claimed the title under Ange Postecoglou with the Greek-Australian credited for the renaissance of Ralston’s career. Such has been his season that there had been calls, prior to Wednesday’s night Nations League win over Armenia, to give him a start.

It would be a fair observation to make that much in the way of discourse around who is a better fit for the national team can be reduced to those who look at the options via the prism of their own team colours. Yet, regardless of such parochial vantage points, Ralston will fancy that he has done enough to hang onto the shirt for the game against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.

Having claimed a starting berth at the expense of the fit Patterson on Wednesday night, Ralston marked his first start for the Scotland side with a goal in the 2-0 win. It is a cap that comes after making his debut as a late replacement in the win over Denmark back in November.

Even before the goal arrived he was in the thick of it as he teed up Stuart Armstrong – who was denied by the woodwork – as well as Andy Robertson who was prevented from scoring by a decent stop from Armenian stopper David Yurchenko. Hanging onto his place in the Aviva at the weekend would be the next success in a season in which Ralston has confounded all manner of expectations.

Indeed, it says much about the 23-year-old that he has revived his career from where it was to where it is. If adversity reveals true character then Ralston will fancy that he has already come through some of the toughest times of his professional life.

The rancour that swirled ominously around Parkhead this time a year ago spared few within the building. Having been able to block out the noise and ignore the perception that his time at the club was over, Ralston has already shown a mental toughness to rival the no-frills robustness that is evident in his play.

His next task will be to put Josip Juranovic under pressure as he looks to overtake the Croatian as the first-choice right-back under Postecoglou.

One thing is for certain: Ralston will go back for pre-season training in an entirely different mindset than he did this time 12 months ago.