HE IS the birthday Bhoy who could have been bringing in his 17th birthday today celebrating getting to a national final.

But Tony Ralston insists missing out on the Petrofac Training Cup showpiece with Queen’s Park will not dent his goal of building on an impressive start to life with the Spiders.

The teenager is on loan with the Hampden club until January and, despite his lack of years, has already made an impact with the Ladbrokes League Two outfit.

On Saturday he enjoyed a fine performance in QP’S 2-1 semi-final reverse to Peterhead at the national stadium, where he admirably dealt with the challenge of going up against players of a different generation and of a different standard.

Naturally, Ralston’s main emotion in the wake of the loss is one of disappointment, but the articulate and mature full-back explained it is just another experience on his footballing apprenticeship journey.

He said: “It’s a disappointing result. We came into the game with high hopes to get a result and at least take it to extra-time. The boys have a good fitness level and we hoped that could happen.

“But the result is obviously very disappointing. It’s two goals from two set pieces that we didn’t defend very well, it’s not like us.

“I felt we really took the game to them in the second half and that’s something the boys should be proud of.

“I’m going into each game knowing I’m getting the experience of being around first-team players and playing in cups like this is only going to help me for the future.”

Ralston’s rise into the public eye comes at an appropriate time given how Scottish football’s approach to bringing through fresh talent is under the microscope.

The man who was presented with the Man of the Match champagne on Saturday – something he will have to wait a whole year before opening – decided at an early stage of his current Celtic deal that spending his time in the Parkhead club’s youth ranks was not the most productive way to improve.

Instead, he jumped at the chance to move to Queen’s Park for some first-team experience. And while the value and success of the pro youth system in Scotland comes under scrutiny, Ralston has encouraged as many young players as possible to follow his example.

“I signed a two-year contract and this is my first year,” he said.

“I went out on loan early to develop and hopefully the second year of my deal I can break through to the first-team or regular under-20s, or if that is not the case go back out on loan to get regular first-team experience.

“I’d definitely encourage a lot of boys, especially my age and going into my age group, to go out on loan.

“The experience you get at this level playing against men every day, every Saturday, it will only help you in your career going forward. You’ll be used to it when you are thrown in to a first-team environment.

“There may not be thousands of fans but it’s a stepping stone to getting that experience of playing in front of people.

“Boys should definitely go out on loan, it will help them a lot.”