Top scorer Jake Reed has been praised by Lowestoft Town joint manager Ady Gallagher after the striker notched his 10th goal of the season in midweek.

The 22-year-old joined the Blues in the summer after being released by Dagenham & Redbridge and has now scored 10 goals in his first 17 games for the club.

Reed opened the scoring in Tuesday night's 3-0 win against East Thurrock United at Crown Meadow, benefitting from a magnificent Robert Eagle cross from the left in the 41st minute.

Eagle's arrowed cross cruised above all of the visiting defenders to the right of the box, where Reed was waiting to thump a header back across the Rocks' keeper and into the bottom left-hand corner.

'Jake Reed is a right poacher in the box and he has scored some great headed goals this season already,' a pleased Gallagher said.

'A lot of his goals come from crosses, he's good at working on his movement and getting on the end of a cross and that's the type of service we need to get to him.

'I don't think we've done that enough in the last two or three games, he thrives on that and it was a top-class finish.'

The victory was the Trawlerboys' first of 2014, giving Gallagher and joint bosses Micky Chapman and Craig Fleming the chance to try and build some momentum.

Tomorrow the Blues go to ninth-placed Hendon, who are two places and six points below them in the Ryman Premier table, looking to close the five-point gap to the play-off places.

Gallagher said: 'We picked up a few knocks so it's going to be very tough for Saturday and there's going to have to be a bit of TLC for the squad.

'Hendon are a very tough side, they beat us here 3-2 earlier in the season and played particularly well, we need to respond to that.

'It's going to be a case of counting how many players are fit and hoping that those who have got minor knocks can shake them off in time.

'Even those who don't have obvious injuries at the moment, there are a lot of lads with really tight muscles and we need to make sure we can put a side out that can compete on Saturday.

'You can't underestimate how difficult it is playing on pitches like this, the pitches are really soft, you get a lot of hamstring injuries at this time of year. It's just about trying to get a run of games and trying to get a settled side and hopefully get a run of results.'