STEFAN McCluskey says he won’t just settle for a place on the bench at Morton and hopes his performance at Stenhousemuir has shown he is ready for a regular starting spot.

The 24-year-old striker hasn’t quite hit the ground running since making the step up to full-time football from Clyde in the summer.

He had made just seven starts and seven sub appearances and scored one goal prior to Saturday, as well as suffering a dislocated shoulder and struggling with a number of minor injuries. And with manager Jim Duffy swooping to sign two Premiership forwards in Peter MacDonald and Ross Caldwell, it looked as though McCluskey was set for a bit-part role in the title run in.

However, he was handed a surprise start at the weekend and shone as he netted Ton’s equaliser before going on to provide the assists for their second and third goals.

The frontman believes he showed what he is capable of at Ochilview and says his aim is to maintain that form and keep his place in the starting line-up.

A beaming McCluskey told the Tele: “Obviously you want to strengthen your squad, and the manager has done that. Peaso is different class. Give him a few games and he’ll prove that. My plan before the game was to do well and remind the manager I’m still here! I don’t want to just settle for the bench; I want to play every week.

“I managed a goal and two assists on Saturday and hopefully if I can produce performances like I did against Stenhousemuir then I’ll have a chance.

“The manager said to me he thought I was terrific and that was a confidence booster. You want to hear things like that.

“You don’t want to be here and not doing good enough.

“Hopefully, I’ll play against Ayr United on Saturday and keep my place in the team if I can put in another performance like I did at the weekend.” After scoring his side’s equaliser, McCluskey cupped his ear while wheeling away in celebration — a gesture he insisted wasn’t designed to have a go at sections of the travelling support.

According to the forward, it was his way of making a plea for them to get right behind the team as they were still very much in the game, and which he believes had the desired effect.

He explained: “Was I cupping my ear while celebrating my goal? Aye, it was because two seconds before it, I heard some booing and that affects the players when we’re on the park. They do have a right to boo if we go 1-0 down — the same as any team — but it was just to remind them we’re still in the game and to get on our side.

“Obviously they got on our side, we pulled it back — and we should even have won more convincingly than we did.

“We dominated the second half. I wouldn’t say they [Stenny] were non-existent, but they were kind of chasing shadows at times.

“It’s just a wee mistake at the end that’s brought it back to 3-2.

“I counted four or five right good saves that could have gone in on any other day. It could have been a cricket scoreline, to be honest, with the way we were attacking.”