Reuben's Recovery

...and is ready to step up the pace on his road to recovery. 

After having an operation on his foot to attempt to solve a problem that had plagued the Pilgrims’ top goalscorer throughout the closing months of last season, Reid is now pushing himself to be fit for the new season, now fewer than three weeks away. 

His latest step on the ladder was to play 25 minutes in Argyle’s 3-1 victory at Bideford AFC on Saturday, and having come through that unscathed, he will be part of the Pilgrims’ squad that travels to Bath City on Tuesday night. 

Derek reported no problems for the striker after the run-out, and is confident he can get his number nine in perfect condition soon. 

“He came through it fine,” said Derek. “We will just continue to work on his fitness levels and to get him as many minutes now as we possibly can, in the first team games and reserve team games.

“We had known for a while that we have pushed him on a bit quicker, trying to get him fitter and stronger. We got him 25 minutes on Saturday which was good for him, and was probably a morale boost as well. Hopefully next week we can get him more minutes and he gets his fitness levels up.

“He wanted to do well, he’s got back quicker then we probably thought he was going to get back and that’s probably down to his attitude to getting back fit.”

A crucial question in the Green Army’s mind, inevitably, is whether the recovery is completed by August 8, when Argyle travel to AFC Wimbledon to kick off the 2015-16 season. 

Derek was non-commital, as one might understand, but certainly did not rule out the prospect. 

He said: “He’s about two weeks behind then the rest of the squad at this moment in time so it’s about quickening that up, and to get him extra sessions in as we are doing today, trying to get him quicker and fitter and sharper as soon as possible.

“That was his first 25 minutes on Saturday so we will keep working with him and making him sharper.

"We will have to wait and see [whether he makes the first game], but we have got a number of games to play and it’s just a case of how quickly can we get him up to speed. 

“He’s ahead of schedule, and if you asked us a few weeks ago then the first game of the season would have been very difficult. We are more positive then we were."