Chipping In

ARGYLE go into Tuesday night’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy second-round tie at home to Swindon...

...with manager John Sheridan looking for his Pilgrims to start backing up leading scorer Reuben Reid.

Reuben’s headed winner in Argyle’s 1-0 Sky Bet League 2 win over Shrewsbury on Saturday was his sixth goal of a campaign in which none of his team-mates has netted more than once.

John has already decided that Reuben will start the midweek cup-tie on the bench, meaning the onus will be on others to contribute to the goals-for column.

He said: “Reuben will be involved – the squad is more or less the same – but he did get a little knock and didn’t train too much last week.

“You can’t be relying on one player. We’ve got good enough players to be getting more goals. I always like my attack-minded players, at this stage of the season, to be around three, four, five goals. Reuben is, but I’d like one or two more to be in there and us a team not to rely on Reuben.

“I’d like one or two more people to start scoring on a more regular basis.”

Swindon knocked Argyle out of the JPT at the same stage last season, with current Pilgrim Lee Cox playing for the Robins in a 2-1 victory at the County Ground.

Both sides have improved a lot since then, with Swindon currently second in Sky Bet League 1 and winning plaudits for their fluid playing style.

“They have got a lot of players who are comfortable on the ball and believe in themselves, and they play at a really good tempo,” said John.

“It’s a good test for us and hopefully we will stand up to them. I like these games. I’d rather play against a team that is going to test you. They will move the ball and move us around, so we have got to deal with that and, at the same time, express ourselves

“Whatever formation I play will hopefully give them a test, and we will go out and perform on the night.”

John will be asking his players to show the same attitude they showed in the weekend victory over Shrewsbury.

“We did some good things,” he said. “I don’t think we played great, but the determination and desire, once we got the lead, to hold on to it and get three points, is what pleased me more than most. I thought the drive and will to win the game was there.

“I wouldn’t mind 10,11,12 of those a season – when we haven’t been the best team but we’ve picked three points up. Every successful team does that.”