‘Bold’ Allen still pinching himself as NZ move pays off

Even the man himself, though, has been surprised by his rapid rise from club seeker to Club World Cup-bound striker in the six months since he left Guernsey and moved to New Zealand.

Allen found the net once more last weekend as Team Wellington completed their 10-3 aggregate win over Fijian champions Lautoka to win the Oceania Champions League and book their place at the 2018 Fifa Club World Cup in the UAE in December.

‘Team Welly’ are now just two hurdles – albeit extremely big ones – from facing either the Uefa Champions League or the Copa Libertadores winners.

‘What an incredible experience it’s been,’ said Allen reflecting on his first six months in Wellington this week.

‘I left home with a very rough plan and everything has just fallen into place, culminating in victory in the Champions League final.

‘This competition is something I knew very little about before heading over and I was just focusing on getting signed on with a team.

‘Even when Team Wellington signed me I didn’t expect to be chosen as one of only three foreign players eligible to play in the competition, so to earn my place in that squad on my form was a huge achievement in itself.

‘Then being able to travel to places like the Solomon Islands and Fiji to play football has just been an added bonus to the fun of playing in New Zealand.’

Team Wellington were unbeaten in their Oceania Champions League round-robin pool in the Solomon Islands, winning twice after drawing the opener with the host club Marist.

That earned them a quarter-final with Toti City of Papua New Guinea, which they came through emphatically 11-0.

The toughest test, though, was always going to be their semi-final meeting with defending champions Auckland City, who had won seven straight titles.

After a goalless first leg in Wellington, a 2-2 draw in Auckland sent Team Welly through to the final on away goals.

A 6-0 win over Lautoka in the first leg, with Allen scoring the opener, put his team on the brink of their biggest achievement, which was confirmed with the 4-3 victory in the second leg in Fiji last weekend.

‘I did really well in the Solomons, although I picked up a nasty elbow infection on returning, which set me back physically for the next six weeks,’ said Allen.

‘But I’ve worked really hard the last 2-3 weeks to earn a place back in the starting line-up and was rewarded with a start in the final.

‘Aside from everything else, this is the main reason why I moved. To challenge myself at a new club with no history behind me.

‘If I play and train well then I might start the next game. If I don’t or someone just does slightly better than me then I could be dropped.

‘The feeling I got from just being selected in the XI for the final after three weeks out of the team was one of the best I’ve ever had in football. I knew I’d earnt that shirt and fought hard for it.

‘To then score the first goal in the home leg and get some assists was a huge confidence boost.

‘To come on in the second leg and score again was amazing as well.’

The reward is to be Oceania’s representatives at the Fifa Club World Cup.

The region is the lowest seed of the six Fifa continental confederations, so Team Wellington will face the national league champions of the host country, Al-Ain, in the one first-round tie played in the UAE before three more regional champions – those from Asia, Africa and Concacaf (North America, Central America and the Caribbean) – enter the competition at the quarter-final stage.

The top two seeds – the winners of the Uefa Champions League and South America’s Copa Libertadores – enter in the semi-finals.

Team Wellington’s match with Al-Ain will be on 12 December.

‘This means so much to this club who for so long have been living in the shadow of Auckland City,’ Allen said.

‘The Club World Cup is an unbelievable reward and it will provide financial security to what is an amateur football club.

‘For me it is the dream start to my new life in New Zealand. I never expected any of this to happen but I’m proud to have taken the leap and pushed myself out of my comfort zone in search of new challenges and experiences.

‘Winning that trophy is the reward for being bold and pushing myself to achieve more in this game before time catches up with me.

‘It is undoubtedly a new highlight in what has been an amazing career in football. We can now enjoy this moment and look forward to the UAE in December.’