RORY ALLEN bears a million pound price tag on his shoulders, Robbie Keane carries one on his head.

But both proved their worth to their respective clubs on a day when the two strikers came head to head and invited comparison as Wolves legend Steve Bull officially announced an emotional retirement pre-match.

Allen broke his duck for Pompey with his first goal since his £1 million arrival from Spurs and Keane merely underlined the reputation that would enable Wolves to raise £5 million smackers to build their squad merely by picking up the phone and making a cross-town call to Aston Villa man-ager John Gregory.

There's not much between them in terms of age, Allen at 21 and Keane just 19. There's no doubt that Keane is on his way up - it's just a matter of when - while Allen has had to take check-step in moving from Premiership Spurs to Pompey.

Their goals had a remarkably similarity in their germ of creation.

Andy Petterson punted a long-ball forward and captain cock-up appeared in the Wolves defence, a compete breakdown in communication between Keith Curle and 'keeper Mike Stowell allowed Allen to sneak in between them and hook the ball into an unguarded net.

Wolves' leveller also sprung from a long kick from Stowell which was flicked on by Haavard Flo. It was Keane who reacted first, picking up the dropping ball and with a brilliant change of feet lifted it first over Andy Awford, then round Jason Cundy before drilling a left-foot shot past Petterson.

Both strikers could have added to their tally. Allen beat the Wolves offside trap and Stowell's headlong rush and seemed certain to score only to find the excellent Neill Emblen haring back to block his shot while Keane bulleted a first-half header against the underside of the crossbar on one of the rare occasions the Pompey defence looked at sea.

Despite their similarities, Keane and Allen operate differently.

Allen is the front-man who operates on the shoulder of the last defender, flirting on the thin line of offside. There's also a willingness to accept the ball with his back to goal and hold things up and knit them together.

Keane is a slightly different animal who prefers to operate from deeper. His preference for having the big pic-ture in front of him means he'll drop deep to get the ball. It often leaves his strike partner on his own but when he runs at defenders you can see why Villa are among those checking the current account to make sure a £5 million cheque wouldn't bounce.

The draw put Pompey into the top three and with only Stockport and Ipswich having won both games, you can see that Division 1 will be one in which there's not much between success and failure.

Wolves will be there if they're not stricken by injuries - they currently have the smallest squad the division with just 19 players.

Of course they could increase it at the drop of a hat - but it would mean realising the price tag on Keane's head.

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