Club World Cup: Guernsey's Ross Allen targets a return to tournament

Ross Allen scored Team Wellington's opening penalty in their shootout loss to Al Ain

Ross Allen is targeting a return to the Club World Cup in 2019 after his Team Wellington side narrowly lost in the opening round.

Guernsey's Allen, 31, scored a penalty as the Oceania Champions League winners lost 5-3 in a shootout to Al Ain.

His New Zealand team had led 3-0 before being pegged back to 3-3 in 90 minutes.

"I'm going to be with Team Wellington until the end of the season, which will hopefully be May, ending with another Champions League win," he said.

"After that I can't commit to anything as I don't know, but if we win that tournament again we'll be off to the Club World Cup again so that'll be really hard to turn down."

The forward scored 239 goals in 226 games for Guernsey FC from the club's foundation in 2011 until he left last year when he moved to New Zealand after a period travelling.

But he has not ruled out once again donning the green and white shirt of his home island's Isthmian League side.

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"The biggest thing I've learnt in the last year is I've been able to get myself fitter," he told BBC Radio Guernsey.

"Parts of my game are slowing down, but there are other things I can do to alleviate that and it's definitely given me a longer timescale than I originally thought in terms of my career.

"There's plenty of time for me to come back home and give some more time to Guernsey FC, but I can't say when that'll be."

'Brutal' end for Wellington

Team Wellington qualified for the Club World Cup in may after beating Fijian side Lautoka 10-3 on aggregate in the final of the Oceania Champions League

With the United Arab Emirates hosting the Club World Cup, their champions Al Ain faced Wellington in the opening qualifying game, with the winners set to to face African champions Esperance from Tunisia before a semi-final with River Plate of Argentina.

Allen came on in the final minute of extra-time and took the first kick in the shootout, which ultimately ended in defeat.

"It was made even worse by the fact that we got back to the hotel after midnight and we had to get up at 0400 to catch a flight," he reflected.

"It was pretty brutal, straight out of the door and back home. It was pretty hard to have to leave like that after coming so close.

"Our game plan was executed to perfection pretty much, we just let it slip at the end."

He added: "Coming so close to the quarter-final of such a big tournament was pretty heartbreaking, but after a few extra days and you can reflect on the positives of the whole experience.

"When you take a step back and look at the magnitude of some of the teams involved, the stage and the scale of being involved in a Fifa tournament like that, we've got to be really proud of our efforts."