Will Curtis keep Kilmarnock up then go to World Cup?

"I think it tells you he likes that responsibility," said Allan about Curtis' willingness to step up when it matters most.

"That's usually when you can see these players who have that wee bit extra, who want to take the ball under pressure, who want to go and be the guy that wins the game.

"It shouldn't really matter what age you are, it's either in you or it's not, and Curtis has definitely shown that he has that bit between his teeth."

McCann was appointed by Kilmarnock, it became apparent early on that he wanted Curtis in on loan, having worked with him as part of Barry Ferguson's backroom staff at Rangers towards the end of last season.

Allan - who worked under McCann at Dundee and Inverness - reckons the manager's influence is a positive one for this stage in Curtis' career.

"I think you can go on loan from a Rangers or a Celtic and maybe take your foot off the gas a little bit - but I don't think McCann would have allowed him to do that."

The winger would have been fighting for a place in the Rangers side but decided a loan move for regular football was the correct choice for him.

"One of the main things was to play as many minutes as I can," Curtis told BBC Sport Scotland in the aftermath of his impressive double.

"It gives me loads of confidence to get those goals. I want to get my numbers higher, and I won't stop doing that.

"I think I just need to keep working hard and see what comes next."

Analysis: How Curtis proved decisive in Paisley

There's one word that springs to mind when describing Curtis's display against St Mirren: clinical. He had three shots, two on target, both goals, and good ones.

He showed the quality that had him featuring regularly for Rangers in the early days of Russell Martin's tenure, scoring three times in the Englishman's first six games, including in Champions League qualifying.

He's since scored four in Kilmarnock's last six games under McCann and Billy Dodds.

Curtis was pushed forward by his fellow players when the squad took a well-deserved post-match ovation from a sizeable travelling support.

A player-of-the-match performance with his double, which took the game away from St Mirren, he was a constant nuisance.

And his numbers show a player who's happy to muck in - 45 touches, 24 passes with an accuracy of nearly 67%, two key passes, one tackle, and two fouls won.

The most important column of all, of course, is the goals tally. And his brace has gone a long way to securing top-flight survival for his adopted side.

Afterwards, he paid tribute post-match to McCann and Dodds, to his team-mates, and to the fans who've taken him to their hearts with their own special song.

He says Rangers are getting a much better player back when his loan ends next weekend and that he'll be sad to leave Rugby Park.

"I'd definitely say it's been a beneficial loan, both on and off the pitch," he said.

[BBC]

Should Curtis be on plane for World Cup?

Curtis' burgeoning ability to drag his side out of a mire at just 19 has already caught the eye of a former Rugby Park manager, Steve Clarke.

The Scotland head coach made Curtis a surprise inclusion in his squad for the friendly matches in March, the teenager making his debut with 10 minutes to go in a 1-0 defeat by Japan.

"Fingers crossed," Curtis said when asked on Saturday if playing at this World Cup was an ambition of his.

"Let's just see what happens. It will obviously be a massive thing if you get picked for a World Cup at 19 years old. I'll just keep on working away"

Curtis' possible seat on the plane this summer will likely be a hot topic between now and the squad being finalised in a couple of weeks.

And Allan believes that he can add something different to Clarke's options.

"It's very early in his career to be going to a World Cup, but we just don't have enough players throughout the squad who can come on and influence a game with that sort of pace and directness," he said.

"It gives Clarke something to think about, and it allows Scotland a stage in a game where someone else can come on and get you up the pitch, which is going to be very difficult come the World Cup."