Since his last start in the shock defeat at Spartans on 29 November, the younger McCluskey sibling had made just three substitute appearances for the Ton.

And with Jim Duffy bolstering his frontline by signing Peter MacDonald and Ross Caldwell, it was something of a surprise to see the 24-year-old run out at Ochilview on Saturday.

But not to his big brother. According to the winger, Stefan was the outstanding performer in training through the week.

The frontman continued that form at Ochilview, scoring one and setting up two others — and it was a performance Jamie saw coming.

He told the Tele: “Last week, from Monday to the Friday, in training, Stefan was the best player.

“On the way home on the Friday, I actually said to him that he would play the next day.

"We knew Peaso was coming in and that we’d just signed Ross [Caldwell], but I just felt that he would start with how well he had trained. He came in and did really well and you’d like to think he’ll keep his place for Saturday as well.

“He just needs to keep doing that. He’s been unlucky with injuries and stuff so far this season. In training he’s shown what he’s capable of; we all know what he can do.

“It was there for all to see on Saturday. He was absolutely flying, in the last half hour especially. He’s a fit boy, probably the fittest in the squad.

“The amount of running he was doing in the last 15 minutes was great for the other players, because you could just pick him out and put him into the channel and he’d keep the ball for us.

“He did really well.” Although the pair had never played together at club level until signing on at Cappielow at the beginning of the season, they combined to great effect against Stenny.

And McCluskey believes that understanding was honed in the park as kids and then on five-a-side and seven-a-side pitches in the close-season as they went their separate ways in the game.

He added: “We’ve been playing together for years. Even though we weren’t at the same clubs, we’d play fives and sevens together in the summer with all our mates.

“Stef’s been injured and not really played a lot because of his injuries, but we’ve been training together for four months now and we’ve been linking up well through the week. I know what type of player he is and he knows what type of player I am.

“We know each other’s game: where we like the ball, where we’ll be, what our best attributes are.

“And we took that into the game on Saturday.

“Even the rest of the boys in the team were saying that we looked as though we were enjoying ourselves.

“It was enjoyable, especially the second half performance.

“We kept the ball well as a team and once we scored the third goal, it was very comfortable and could even have scored more.”