Carrick Rangers boss Stuart King hails striker as 'one of the best in the Irish League over the past 15 years' after registering 550th appearance

According to stats guru Marshall Gillespie, the former Lisburn Distillery, Linfield, Glentoran and Coleraine ace has scored 238 goals in all competitions across 17 seasons while also providing 105 assists, giving the ex-Bournemouth youth product a goal contribution every 120 minutes and average of 174 minutes per goal.

Allen came off the bench to net for a 187th time in the Premiership last weekend as Carrick completed a 3-2 comeback victory at The Oval and King’s men will be looking to back that up when they travel to Dungannon Swifts this afternoon.

"He's been unbelievable,” said King. “He has scored a goal every two games which is phenomenal.

"People can do for that maybe one or two seasons, but Curtis has done it for probably 15 seasons or more now.

"He's a goalscorer, his movement in the box is better than most I've ever seen and I'd rank him up there as one of the best strikers in this league over the last 10-15 years.

"He's still scoring goals, still active and still playing.

"Anybody that plays 550 games is doing remarkably well, but for him to do that and score goals for every club he has played for at this level is phenomenal.

"He's a big asset for us and somebody I can rely on."

While King’s side have taken 10 points from a possible 24 against the established top-six sides this season, including two wins over Glentoran and a 2-0 success against Coleraine to already better their tally in the same category from the previous campaign, they’ve only won two out of six versus teams in the bottom-half.

The Gers had lost their last three prior to the triumph in east Belfast, leading to criticism of the manager from some quarters, but King is delighted with the overall progress at Taylor’s Avenue since he took over in June 2021.

"If I take a step back and see what the lads, my staff, the volunteers and I have done at the club since I took over, the progression we've had and where we are now - if people want to have a pop at that then it's their opinion,” he added. “I'll take opinions off people I trust.

"I think we're a victim of our own success because we've improved.

"If we finished 10th the last two years and just stayed in the league then there wouldn't be an issue with us sitting eighth, in the semi-finals of the County Antrim Shield and getting results against teams we never have before.

"That's football. People have opinions on everything.

"They are entitled to say what they want and it's up to you to decide if you want to take it on the chin or react to it.

"Hopefully we can silence them by being successful and that's what I want to do.

"If we take a step back, everything about the club is only going one way.”

Carrick defeated Dungannon 2-1 in September but having only won on one of their previous four visits to Stangmore Park, King is expecting a tough test in County Tyrone.

“We have found it tough getting results there at times,” he said. “We had a great result last week and I know if my players are on it and we're fully focused that we will get results, but we know we'll get turned over if we are off the boil.

"Every game away from home is tough.

"We have firepower that can score goals and it's just a matter of being tight and compact to limit their opportunities as much as we can so we can get a positive result.

"Getting a good result would be huge for the club."