Bain was in inspired form as Falkirk shut out Celtic and moved up to fourth in the Premeirship table

"We've thought for a while we had the best Scottish keeper. Today just proves it."

That was the honest admission from Falkirk coach Stephen McGinn after watching Scott Bain shut out Celtic on Sunday afternoon.

And on the strength of that performance, you can hardly argue.

Those who have watched Falkirk regularly this season wouldn't have been particularly surprised to see Bain come to their rescue. Going into the game, he'd made more saves than any other goalkeeper in the Premiership, and aside from one costly mistake at Celtic Park in August, he's been a robustly reliable performer.

But this game took it to another level.

Celtic had an xG of 2.9, the third highest they've registered this season. To put it into context, they had an xG of 4.1 when they scored seven goals against Hearts.

Against Falkirk, they had 11 clear cut chances, and nine shots on target.

Bain saved all nine, and kept a clean sheet.

He had 48 touches of the ball, the second most of the ball of any Falkirk player behind only midfielder Brad Spencer.

Those numbers are quite frankly outrageous.

And if data isn't your thing then the eye test doesn't lie either.

A Celtic fan within earshot of me was reduced to disbelieving laughter when, for the umpteenth time, Bain parried a shot from James Forrest at his near post, only to scramble back to his feet and deny Benjamin Nygren on the rebound.

When he flung himself to his right to turn Mika Baur's long-range shot round the post in the closing stages, a chant of 'Scotland's number one' went up in the home end. And you can hardly blame the Falkirk fans for trying to send a message to Sebastien Pocognoli.

The Scotland boss has more to go off than the pages of Record Sport, but when the alternative options are an out-of-form Angus Gunn, now marooned in the MLS, and a relatively inexperienced Jon McCracken playing in the third tier of English football, you do have to wonder how long it will be before Bain, in his peak years and playing the best football of his life at the highest level in Scotland, gets a crack at the No.1 jersey.

He's now gone 342 minutes without conceding a goal for Falkirk, a run that has coincided with them moving up to fourth in the Premiership table. He has four clean sheets to his name; only Ivor Pandur at Rangers has more.

It might well be that such a high-profile performance against the very best Scotland could be the nexus point that tips the scales in his favour.

Boss John McGlynn described it well when he said: "We needed Scott Bain to have the game of his life, he made so many saves.

"To get the 2-0 advantage was huge and I think Scott Bain had two outstanding saves. He had to continuously produce in the second half so a huge thank you to him for the game he's had.

"A huge performance, all the characteristics you'd want from your team playing against Celtic."

Whether it results in a long-awaited run of games for his country, Bain's performance stands alone as one of the finest 90-minute performances from a goalkeeper in recent Scottish football memory.

And it came off the back of a run of form that bodes exceptionally well for Falkirk, who have now won four on the spin and are thinking, quietly, about whether they can better their sixth-placed finish from last season.

A keeper in this sort of fettle certainly helps their cause.