Reuben Reid reveals being selfish for once helped to bring drought to an end

Striker Reuben Reid has thanked Plymouth Argyle manager John Sheridan for the continued faith he has shown in him.

Reid did not score in any of his first ten games for the Pilgrims, after arriving on loan from Yeovil Town at the end of January. However, he finally opened his account in the 2-0 win away to Southend United on Tuesday.

Reid grabbed Argyle's second goal after Paul Wotton had put them into the lead with a penalty in the 57th minute. It was the Pilgrims' second successive win and moved them up to 20th position in npower League Two.

Reid said: "Obviously, it's always nice to get on the scoresheet, but I'm just happy my goal helped the lads to a win we desperately needed."

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The 24-year-old admitted his goal drought had been hard to come to terms with. Reid has come under fire from some fans at Home Park, but Sheridan continued to pick him in his starting line-ups despite his lack of goals.

"It's nothing I've ever experienced in my career before," Reid added. "You go home after every game and at night, in bed, you ask yourself questions like: 'What's going on?'

"I've got to hand it to John Sheridan. Apart from Mark Robins at Rotherham, I have never had a manager give me an opportunity to play the way he has here.

"I don't think I have played badly. I have contributed to team performances, but as a striker you are judged by your goals," he admitted.

"I have got to give a massive shout-out to the manager who has kept throwing me in there, and eventually you are going to come good."

Reid scored against Southend when he cut inside centre-back Ryan Cresswell and placed a low shot past goalkeeper Daniel Bentley. He said: "To be fair, what I have been doing all the time is probably be a bit unselfish.

"I have been squaring a lot of balls and looking to play people in, but at that time in the game I thought there was a chance the defender was going to go to ground.

"I took it inside and actually had a shot. Was that my first one in about eight games?

"I think they do say, if you shoot, you will score. Thankfully it went in," added Reid, who started his career at Argyle before leaving in 2008.

Wotton fired the Pilgrims into the lead against Southend after on-loan Bristol City midfielder Joe Bryan was fouled.

Bryan, 19, sped into the penalty area and was blatantly tripped by the Blues' centre-back Bilel Mohsni.

For the second successive game, Wotton confidently despatched a spot-kick. Reid said: "It was a great run from Joe. The lad [Mohsni] was a bit silly diving in on him. It was a clear penalty.

"Even when I used to play with Wottsie as a kid, he was always the man to take the penalties. I'm always confident when he steps up to take them, and he's a confident person. It was never in doubt. It was a great penalty."

Argyle have won three and drawn two of their last six matches to move out of the relegation zone. Their only defeat in that sequence came when they lost 2-1 at table-topping Gillingham.

Reid said: "The good thing for the lads is the performance levels at the moment. We have played to a decent standard.

"We are getting more shots on goal and we are creating a few more things. Things are still not right, obviously, but we are in a relegation battle and it's not always going to go your way. Hopefully, we can keep the level of performance up and build on it."