GARY Bowyer has hailed the growing impact of “new signing” Jake Reeves for City.

The midfielder has hit the ground running since his return from nearly two years out of action.

Reeves followed up his impressive return at Macclesfield 10 days ago by delivering another man-of-the-match display in the weekend win over Newport to earn more plaudits from his manager and team-mates.

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Bowyer said: “You saw the difference that makes when you’ve got someone with that quality.

“Reevesy deserves a huge amount of credit. Last week he got to 82 minutes, this time he got to 100 – he went off with even more confidence.

“Touch wood, as long as he recovers and again we’ll look after him, he’s going in the right direction. He’s a wonderful footballer.”

Bowyer has championed Reeves since he came to the club and has been desperate to get him back in the picture after such a nightmare lay-off.

The City boss added: “When I came here with Blackpool for the opening day of that season, he was the one we really concentrated on stopping.

“That was in League One, which just shows you the standard he is at.

“He’s like a new signing for us, for sure. He provides competition and it’s great.

“He was magnificent considering that was only his second game in God knows how long and you see the difference that he makes for us.

“How he plays the game and the standards he sets, the others have seen and will want to get up to and play with him. It’s going to be brilliant for the likes of Callum Cooke in there to listen and learn.

“We brought Tyler French on at the death on Saturday because they were pumping balls into our box. I just said to him to listen to what Reevesy told him to do.”

Centre half Paudie O’Connor, whose effort was thwarted by a superb point-blank save, is not surprised to see the midfielder creating those opportunities.

“Reevesy obviously has that in his locker,” he added.

“We’ve seen it in training the last couple of months. He’s been champing at the bit for his chance and in the last couple of games he’s showed that.

“He was next to near full throttle and we should score more goals from his deliveries if he continues to produce that.”

The presence of Reeves and Taylor has given City an experienced spine and Bowyer once again praised their influence on the younger players in the team.

“Sometimes we forget we’ve got quite a few young players in there with the likes of Remi (Oteh), Paudie and Connor Wood. We do need the old heads with knowledge and know-how."