THE sight Gavin Reilly lining up against Annan Athletic must be beginning to strike fear into the Galabank faithful.
For the striker, 31, a former pupil at Annan Academy, has scored seven goals in his last six outings against the Black and Golds for Queen of the South and Arbroath respectively.
Reilly, who was brought up in Gretna, believes Annan could now be the team he has scored the most against.
Speaking on Saturday, after his brace helped Arbroath to a 4-0 win at Galabank, he said: “It’s more about getting a reaction and bouncing back after getting beat on Tuesday. Three points today puts us in a good position at the halfway stage.
“At the start we went through a stage where we were all struggling. I think with the quality we’ve got the dressing room it was always going to come good.
“We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves as there’s a lot of football still to be played.
“I put Fraser Taylor in for the first one and he put me in for the second. We’ve got players who can do that.
“I think you can see the confidence is there and we’re starting to click now.
“I think it could be Annan now (who I’ve scored the most goals against). Dumbarton was up there at one point and actually Rangers.”
Reilly joined Arbroath from Queens in the summer, making the switch to part time football after accepting an apprenticeship with Scottish Water.
He said: “I started speaking to a few part time teams in January last year and Arbroath was one of them. I just thought that there would be a good chance of them winning something with the squad they were building.
“I’m at an age where full time football was getting to the point where it wasn’t feasible for me and my family.
“I had to put my sensible head on and think what was best for my family.
“When I first started playing with Queens (in 2010), I went on loan to Gretna because I was working for the Northern Gas Network. During that season I made the decision to go back full time and I’ve been full time until the summer there.
“Hopefully I can score goals until my legs no longe let me! Football’s a short career and you’ve got to enjoy it. I’m enjoying it at the moment, so long may it continue.”
Reilly also praised old manager and teammate Wullie Gibson upon learning Saturday’s match was the Annan gaffer’s 700th career outing.
He said: “I’ve got a lot of time for Wullie. I played with him in the season where Queens won the league and the cup, and then I was managed by him.
“That’s a tremendous achievement. Hopefully Annan can start picking up some results, because there’s a lot of guys I know there.”
