The Heat Is On

Anthony Ralston enjoyed being part of the winter training camp in Dubai, and is hoping it will be beneficial to him as a player, and to the team as a whole.

- Tony Connelly

THE festive period was a rewarding one for Anthony Ralston, who marked his return to the Celtic first team with some impressive performances before the New Year.

The Hoops defender is now hoping to build on his progress in the second part of the season following a productive training camp in Dubai. Ralston and the rest of the Celtic squad returned to training at Lennoxtown earlier this week after their winter training camp in Dubai.

The daily training sessions in the heat made for gruelling work, but Ralston admitted he enjoyed the opportunity to make gains which he hopes will propel him further in the second half of the season.

“That was my second time out there with the team and it was great,” said Ralston. “There was a lot of hard work each morning but we were able to rest well and recover afterwards.

“It was very warm, so the heat made training a lot more difficult. The sessions were really intense, and the heat obviously played a major factor in that, but everyone worked very hard.

“Everything was very well set-up and the facilities were great so we could just concentrate on putting in the hard work. We were also working on different things, tactically and doing different drills, so it was really enjoyable at the same time.

“When we got back home to training at Lennoxtown, we could really feel the gains we made. It’ll all work in our favour when it comes to fitness and we’ll be able to reap the benefits when we go back for the second half of the season.”