Allen: “Scoring has been my life”

COLERAINE striker Curtis Allen couldn’t hide his delight after making his first start for the club since the European fixture against FK Velez Mostar back in July…

The marksman completed over 70 minutes of action and netted in the first-half as he showed his predatory instincts to find the back of the net.

The Bannsiders were strong favourites to reach the second round and Allen insists it was great to get the job completed without any scares.

“No disrespect to Windmill Stars but it’s a game we expect to win,” he told Coleraine TV.

“You probably want to score an early goal and we did and then you take control of the game.

“Cup games are cup games, you never know what’s going to happen.

“There’s always a couple of scares, the Glens had a wee bit of a scare.

“You’re just saying to yourself, you don’t want to be one of them teams and thankfully it was job done today.”

Allen paid tribute to the club and those behind the scenes for helping in his recovery and admits he may need to start counting assists after setting up Jamie Glackin and Patrick Kelly for their goals.

“It was brilliant to get a start,” he added.

“It’s been a long old road and it’s been hard for me.

“My foot – it took a bit time before we realised I’d broken my foot so we’ve been working hard.

“Fair play to the club they’ve put a lot of money in privately to help get me back, rehab, and our physios have been fantastic.

“Hopefully that showed on the pitch. I feel great, I’ve lost a lot of weight since I was injured and hopefully that will set me up and running for the rest of the season.

“It’s great to score.

“It’s been my life, scoring goals and I thrive off scoring goals.

“If we had won 6-0 today and I hadn’t scored I’d have been going down the road disappointed, that’s just the way I am.

“To score is fantastic, as well as a couple of assists. I joke with the boys so I’ll maybe start counting them now.”

The 33-year-old revealed he was “a bit worried” about the installation of the 3G pitch but believes the surface will help the Stripes create more chances in front of goal.

“When the new pitch came I was a wee bit worried, thought it might not suit my game in terms of how I felt after training,” he continued.

“Now that I’ve trained on it it’s sharpening me up more, think it’s probably gonna help me in terms of chances which is massive.

“If we can create chances, I’ll score goals.

“We’ve had a wee bit of a rough patch in the league but I don’t think we’ve played particularly bad.

“I’m not hammering the strikers by any means here but maybe we’re not taking our chances.”