Curtis Allen's desire for goals remains as strong as ever at 36 with Carrick Rangers ace targeting another European adventure - 16 years after his first

The ex-Glentoran and Coleraine striker brought his Premiership tally for the campaign to 10 by netting in Tuesday’s 3-1 victory over Newry City – a result which means Stuart King’s side head into this weekend’s clash against Loughgall in pole position for the play-offs.

It has been another season of Allen displaying his sharp predatory instincts, producing a league goal every 165 minutes on average, but it has also been a frustrating one at times, starting in 17 of Carrick’s 36 games to date with Danny Gibson, Nedas Maciulaitis, James Teelan and Emmett McGuckin amongst Carrick’s array of attacking options.

That disappointment lets Allen know he very much still cares and acts as motivation to seize his opportunities when they come around – just like in midweek – and he could have a big say over the coming weeks.

"From where I've been over the years of my career, my mind is always on hitting 20+ goals a season and that doesn't change even when you get older,” he said. “When I look at it, Saturday was the first time I'd started since January for one reason or another, which is disappointing.

"I probably haven't started as many games as I'd have hoped, but when I look at it through the amount of minutes I've played to the amount of goals I've scored, I haven't missed too many chances.

"It's hard...for strikers to score goals they need to play regularly and it's difficult for strikers being in and out of the team. The experience I have sticks by you when you know you can still do the business and make a difference, but does it get any easier? No.

"I'm still coming down the road sometimes absolutely livid that I haven't played or disappointed I haven't started, which shows I really care and that's why I'm still playing.

"I would have loved to have started more games and feel if I had I would have been hitting 15/20 goals - I still believe I can do that. You keep working hard and hope that a chance comes along. Tuesday came, I scored a good goal and was maybe unlucky not to have a hat-trick with two good saves."

Allen has played in European competitions for three different Irish League teams, starting with Lisburn Distillery in 2008 before representing Linfield and Coleraine, so he’s familiar with the benefits that qualification can bring.

Last season, clubs that made it to the first round of Europa Conference League qualifying made a minimum of €150,000 – the second round was worth €350,000 and third round €550,000 – while the experience for players and fans is priceless.

Carrick still have a couple of hurdles to deal with, firstly securing seventh before navigating a competitive play-off, but Allen admits it would be another major step in the right direction for the ambitious County Antrim outfit

"You think about how lucky we are here...some fantastic players in England and Scotland will never get to play in these competitions,” he added. “I thought maybe when I left Coleraine that my European days might have been over, but it just shows how much Carrick have improved and the effort we've put in over recent seasons to keep moving forward.

"To go there with Carrick would be fantastic and would be a massive experience for the boys. Hopefully we could really step the club up again, who want to improve and become more professional, so the finances and the things that come with that would only help."