Curtis Allen hopes goal heroics can help him nail down a starting slot at Carrick Rangers

GLENTORAN 2 CARRICK RANGERS 2

Curtis Allen snatched Carrick’s leveller at The Oval

Glentoran's Bobby Burns takes the acclaim after opening the scoring

David Fisher gets away from Carrick' Cameron Stewart

Carrick's Danny Gibson goes head to head with Fuad Sule

Carrick Rangers boss Stuart King is all smiles with Andy Mitchell after the game

Crafty Curtis Allen hit a dramatic late equaliser against Glentoran at the BetMcLean Oval on Saturday to send a timely remainder to Carrick Rangers boss Stuart King that he’s still one of the best in the business when it comes to putting the ball in the net.

The 35-year-old was only on the pitch for a little over two minutes when he gobbled up a cross from Danny Gibson before threading a shot past goalkeeper Ollie Webber at the near post.

It was the climax to another embarrassing collapse by Warren Feeney’s team. Having dominated the opening 45 minutes, the Glens were given a great ovation off at half-time as the fans celebrated goals from Bobby Burns and David Fisher.

Glentoran's Bobby Burns takes the acclaim after opening the scoring

They were in a similar position against Cliftonville on Tuesday night but contrived to shoot themselves in the foot by conceding two goals after the restart. Surely, they wouldn’t let it happen again?

The inevitable happened when Andy Mitchell rammed home a beauty with 23 minutes remaining, leaving fox-in-the-box Allen to complete the revival with a deft touch late on. Home fans’ cheers turned to jeers.

“I can’t even celebrate, because Glentoran is a former club and I don’t like doing that,” said Allen. “The game was setup nicely. At 2-1 down, we knew we would carve out a few chances.

“They were dropping further back and, when I came on, as a striker, I