Plymouth Argyle striker Reuben Reid thanks manager John Sheridan for keeping faith in him

STRIKER Reuben Reid has thanked Plymouth Argyle manager John Sheridan for the faith he has shown in him.

Reid did not score in any of his first 10 games for the Pilgrims after arriving on loan from Yeovil Town at the end of January.

However, he finally opened his account in the 2-0 win away to Southend United on Tuesday.

Reid grabbed Argyle’s second goal after Paul Wotton had put them into the lead with a penalty in the 57th minute.

It was the Pilgrims’ second successive win and moved them up to 20th position in League Two.

Reid told Herald Sport: “Obviously, it’s always nice to get on the scoresheet but I’m just happy my goal helped the lads to a win we desperately needed.”

The 24-year-old admitted his goal drought had been hard to come to terms with.

Reid has come under fire from some fans at Home Park but Sheridan continued to pick him in the starting line-up despite his lack of goals.

“It’s nothing I have ever experienced in my career before,” said Reid.

“You go home after every game and at night, in bed, you ask yourself questions like, ‘What’s going on?’

“I have got to hand it to John Sheridan. Apart from Mark Robins at Rotherham I have never had a manager give me an opportunity to play the way he has here.

“I don’t think I have played badly. I have contributed to team performances but as a striker you are judged by your goals.

“I have got to give a massive shout-out to the manager who has kept throwing me in there, and eventually you are going to come good.”

Reid scored against Southend when he cut inside centre-back Ryan Cresswell and placed a low shot past ‘keeper Daniel Bentley.

He said: “To be fair, what I have been doing all the time is probably be a bit unselfish.

“I have been squaring a lot of balls and looking to play people in, but at that time in the game I thought there was a chance the defender was going to go to ground.

“I took it inside and actually had a shot. Was that my first one in about eight games?

“I think they do say if you shoot you will score. Thankfully it went in,” added Reid, who started his career at Argyle before leaving in 2008.

Wotton fired the Pilgrims into the lead against Southend after on-loan Bristol City midfielder Joe Bryan was fouled.

Bryan, 19, sped into the penalty area and was blatantly tripped by Blues’ centre-back Bilel Mohsni.

For the second successive game, Wotton confidently despatched a spot kick.

Reid said: “It was a great run from Joe. The lad (Mohsni) was a bit silly diving in on him. It was a clear penalty.

“Even when I used to play with Wottsie as a kid he was always the man to take the penalties.

“I’m always confident when he steps up to take them, and he’s a confident person. It was never in doubt. It was a great penalty.”

Argyle have won three and drawn two of their last six matches to move out of the relegation zone.

Their only defeat in that sequence came when they lost 2-1 at table-topping Gillingham.

Reid said: “The good thing for the lads is the performance levels at the moment. We have played to a decent standard.

“We are getting more shots on goal and we are creating a few more things.

“Things are still not right, obviously, but we are in a relegation battle and it’s not always going to go your way.

“Hopefully, we can keep the level of performance up and build on it.”

Argyle will aim for a third successive win when they travel to Sheridan’s former club, Chesterfield, on Saturday.

Chesterfield are in mid-table and without a realistic prospect of a play-off place.

Reid said: “We have got to go into games and take it to the other teams and try to win. That’s all I can say really.

“Every game is going to be massive because we can’t have a club like ours going down into the Conference.

“I don’t think that’s an option for the club. All the players are pushing together to make sure that’s not the case.”