Thanks, Gaffer

REUBEN Reid paid tribute to Argyle manger John Sheridan for keeping faith with him after opening his Pilgrims’ account with the second goal in Tuesday night’s 2-0 victory at Southend.

It was forward Reuben’s first goal in 11 games since joining Argyle on loan from Yeovil until the end of the season, and he confessed afterwards that he has never known a barren spell like it.

“It’s nothing I’ve ever experienced in my career before,” he said. “It’s a completely whole new experience.

“You go home and ask yourself questions like ‘What’s going on?’ but I have got to hand it to John Sheridan: I have never, ever had a manager – bar the manager at Rotherham, Mark Robins – who has given me the opportunity the way he has given me here, to play.

“I don’t think I’ve played badly – I’ve contributed to the team performances –  but, obviously, you are judged by your goals so to score is a big thing.

“So a massive shout out to the manager who has given me that opportunity, who has kept throwing me in there.

“I am just happy we won. It’s always nice to get on the scoresheet, but I am happy that my goal helped the lads to a massive 2-0 win that we desperately needed.”

Reuben’s 75th-minute goal came from one of several second-half counter-attacks and he put the finish down to a little bit of striking selfishness that he has previously kept reined in.

He said: “What I’ve been doing all the time is probably being a bit unselfish and squaring a lot of balls and looking to play people in.

“But, at that time in the game, I saw the defender was going to go to ground so I took [the ball] inside him and actually had a shot.

“Was that my first shot in about eight games? They say ‘If you shoot, you score’. Thankfully, it went in.”

Argyle had opened the scoring 18 minutes previously when Paul Wotton had struck home a penalty following Bilel Mohsni’s foul on Joe Bryan.

“It was a great run from Joe,” said Reuben. “The lad was a bit silly, diving in on him, but it was a clear penalty.

“Even when I played with Wottsy as a kid, he was always the man to take the penalties, so I am always confident when he steps up.

“It was never in doubt: a great penalty; a great goal.”