Reuben: "Ours to Give Away"

ARGYLE goal hero Reuben Reid urged his team-mates to stay focused as they face “nine cup finals” between now and the end of the season.

Reuben’s two goals against Chesterfield on Tuesday night secured a 2-1 win for the Pilgrims and knocked the Sky Bet League 2 leaders off their perch.

It also lifted Argyle into the play-off positions for the first time this season with nine games to play, and right in the end-of-season shake-up with several other teams, and Reuben said: “I think we’re peaking at the right time and it’s turned into little mini-league for us now.

“Obviously, with the result tonight, we’re in there, so it’s only ours to give away. It’s down to the lads to get the points and stay in there.

“[There are] nine big games for us. Cup finals. I know it’s a cliché to say it, but that’s what it has got to be. We have got to go everywhere and try to win every game.”

Reuben netted midway through the first half to give the Pilgrims an interval lead, then hit a second just before the hour mark after Chesterfield had briefly levelled through Ritchie Humphreys.

The result showed the Pilgrims’ bouncebackability after suffering a disappointing home defeat to Scunthorpe four days previously, and preserved a season-long record of not having suffered back-to-back league defeats.

“We knew what was riding on the game,” said Reuben. “We are in the play-off spots and that was a massive incentive for us. The way we’ve been playing lately, we went into the game full of confidence.

“We got ourselves in front twice and the boys have defended really well.

“We have shown over the course of a season, that there is not much in it between us and the teams above us and, invariably, when we score first or get our noses in front, we seem to come out on top.

“I thought we played really well against Scunthorpe and I felt good out there as well, but we didn’t get the first goal and they ended up nicking it, really.

“Tonight, we got our noses in front, then conceded a very poor goal, and managed to get another one and defend really well because they put us under pressure at times.”

Having beaten the top side in the league, Reuben knows the Pilgrims have to maintain their form against lower – though not lesser – teams. 

He said: “If you spoke to me before Scunthorpe and Chesterfield – these are the games I am not worried about. I thought we were going to beat Scunthorpe and I thought we were going to beat Chesterfield. I was confident.

“But I said to Durrell [Berry] and Dom [Dominic Blizzard] ‘Do you know what I’m thinking about? I’m thinking about Accrington away; I’m thinking about Bury away, Bristol Rovers away’. These are the games when things are against you – the pitch; it’s windy; whatever.

“It’s all every well playing on the best pitch in the league with the best fans in the league, but can we go to Accrington and get a win and stamp our place in the play-offs?”