Confident Reuben Up To Speed

The Pilgrims’ leading scorer for the past two campaigns took his tally for this season to five with strikes in the 18th and 86th minutes of Argyle’s hard-won Sky televised 2-0 victory at Notts County on Sunday.

The performance earned Reuben the man-of-the-match award but, after the game, he disclosed that a foot injury sustained when he scored a hat-trick in a 3-1 win at Exeter in February had badly affected him

He said: “A bit of honesty now, getting it out there – I lost massive confidence with my performances last season because I was playing in pain, and I think maybe a bit of the [lack of] confidence and sharpness carried a bit into this season.”

A summer operation on the foot meant that Reuben was late into pre-season, and the process of playing catch-up with his team-mates was further complicated by an injury earlier in the current campaign. However, another man-of-the-match – and goal – in the previous week’s 2-1 win over Crawley was a clear indication that the belief shown in him by manager Derek Adams was reaching vindication.

“I’ve only shown glimpses in games,” said Reuben, “but luckily, in games like this over the last couple of weeks, I can get into my routine and rhythm, get my sharpness up and – the main thing –confidence because it’s hard when it’s stop-start. I had a little hamstring strain against Northampton so it’s been a bit stop-start.

“The gaffer spoke to me and he’s built up my confidence, saying he needs more from me; what to do; ‘don’t worry’; and basically ‘play your game’, so I’m very thankful for that.

“He keeps putting me up there and talking me through. Hopefully I can repay him with my performances.”