Ian Allinson thinks that Jamie Cureton can help St Albans City as they push for promotion from the Vanarama National League South.

The signing of the former Norwich City, QPR and Reading striker on Friday shocked many in the football world.

The 41-year-old had joined Eastleigh in the summer but was deemed surplus to requirements when the south coast club appointed Martin Allen as manager at the beginning of the month.

Cureton made his debut off the bench in the 2-0 win over Margate on Saturday and Allinson revealed they had moved quickly to seal a deal which he believes could prove vital in the coming months.

He said: “It keeps everyone on their toes. You could see straight away he’s got a willingness to work hard. He did great for the goal.

“He’s got great experience and will be great for some of younger players like Louie [Theophanous], Junior [Morias] and Sam [Merson]. I think the oldest of them is 24. He’ll be great in terms of teaching them good habits and will be great for us as a squad going into the second part of next season when his goals could be vital when we need someone to turn a game for us.

“We got notified of it quickly and we started talking to him quickly. We’ve been talking to him for the last seven days but he just wanted to let things settle down a bit as obviously [leaving Eastleigh] was a bit of a shock.

“We did the deal Thursday evening, Friday morning. It’s great to have him on board. It’s great for us and hopefully his goals will help us into the playoffs at least.”

Cureton’s arrival, however, has caused some to wonder whether it signifies one of the other strikers at the club could be on their way.

Allinson disagrees that needs to be the case.

“Not necessarily,” he said. “I’ve always said I wanted four forwards and I’ve got that now. It’s something I’ll have to look at as we go into January.

“We speak about one forward but what’s to say two forwards won’t go? Both forwards are being looked at, a lot of clubs are showing an interest and when we have a home game, we’ve got a list of scouts as long as your arm. It’s something we have to be aware of because if someone comes in with an offer and the offer is right for the football club, then we have to seriously consider it.

“We will cross that bridge when we come to it in the January transfer window.”