Anthony Ralston has seen Scotland class ace Kieran Tierney show him a pathway for young full-backs at Celtic and he’s desperate to follow in the footsteps of his £10m-rated team-mate.

The right-back is back home after impressing for the Scotland Under 19s – he was one of the few who got pass marks despite losing all three games in the Elite Round in Czech Republic.

Ralston has already had experience of the Hoops first team –Ronny Deila handed him his first team debut last season against St Johnstone in the league.

He signed an extended deal in the summer and Brendan Rodgers blooded him this season against Motherwell in the League Cup, after also spending a large chunk of last season on loan at Queen’s Park.

Ralston is hoping to follow the example of Tierney, whose displays have been so impressive after he made his Celtic breakthrough, half of the English elite clubs have been linked with him.

He said: “Kieran is a great example for me and all the young boys at Celtic. 

“They can look up to him and know there are chances at Celtic because he’s been in our position before and he’s went and done it. 

“He’s a great example of what can happen and he’s the one all the young boys look up to at Celtic.”

Ralston is determined to catch the eye again of Rodgers, who he credits as being a big help to the colts.

And he’s determined to make it at Celtic, despite the likes of Mikael Lustig and Cristian Gamboa being ahead of him in the queue.

He said: “Brendan’s great. He speaks to all the boys individually and gives you hope. 

“All the boys have a lot of confidence in him, so we’ll see what happens.

“He makes sure he talks to you and he makes sure he gives you confidence and he does. He’s brilliant with the young boys.

“I had a good experience being involved with the first team last year and hopefully there’s more chances for me in the future.

“Like every boy at Celtic, I’d say there was hope. There’s definitely hope. 

“I’m enjoying it and I am just going to keep going and see what happens.”