Dream night for cup hero Allan

Allan came off the bench at half time with United leading Swansea City 1-0 and, after Liam Cullen’s close range finish pegged them back, his double at the Gallowgate End sealed the victory in what was a hard-fought encounter at St. James’ Park.

And afterwards, Allan told NUFC TV that it was the perfect night for him, as more than 1,000 supporters cheered Dave Watson’s side to victory.

“Playing at St. James’ Park is what everyone dreams about, and scoring at the Gallowgate as well,” he said. “Obviously I was just coming on as a sub trying to make an impact, but everything went as well as it could have really.

“It’s a lot different playing in front of people, especially at the end running through and I could hear everyone screaming. It was much better than just playing locally with not that many people there, and it was a really good atmosphere.”

Allan replaced Mo Sangare at the break and nodded in Matty Longstaff’s free kick with just over 20 minutes remaining to put the Magpies back in front.

And his second goal came in the dying seconds when he latched on to goalkeeper Nathan Harker’s punch and ran all the way from deep inside his own half to tap home into an unguarded net to make sure of the win.

“In the first half we weren’t as good as we could have been and in the second half we weren’t either, but we picked it up and deserved it compared to the first half,” said the youngster.

“The manager said there wasn’t enough runs in behind, and obviously I’m quite quick so I just tried to get in behind as much as I could and create a few opportunities.

“Matty’s got a great ball on him, he always has, and luckily enough I realised before the ball came in that I wasn’t picked up at all, so there was a bit of movement and then it fell straight on my head.

“And for my second goal, that was just me running as fast as I can! I got towards the end and slowed down a bit, and I was just trying to waste time and make sure we got the win really.”

Watson’s youngsters will now face either Sunderland or Shrewsbury Town in the next round, with the two teams set to face each other on Wednesday night.

And Allan says there is belief in the squad that their Youth Cup run could go on for some time yet.

“All the lads are absolutely buzzing and we just can’t wait for the next round, whoever it’s against. Obviously, Sunderland would be a great game,” he said.

“We’ve played well all season but we’ve had a lot of injuries recently. Load of players are coming back though, and we feel confident to play anyone now.”