Tony Docherty believes Charlie Reilly is ready to make an impact at Dundee

Tony Docherty has indicated that Charlie Reilly may now be ready to get more game time after undergoing an “adaptation period” at the start of his Dundee career.

The 21-year-old striker moved to Dens Park in the summer after scoring 24 goals last season for an Albion Rovers side who suffered relegation from League Two to the Lowland League.

Having previously been restricted to just two late cameo outings in the Premiership, Reilly was introduced in the 71st minute of last weekend’s 2-1 defeat by Hibernian and made a positive impact as the Dark Blues tried to fight back from two goals down.

“With the level he’s come from, there’s been a bit of an adaptation period for Charlie, even in terms of the full-time training and the intensity we train at,” said Docherty.

“I was really pleased for Charlie because I’ve seen the level of performance he can put in in training and in reserve matches, and I thought he was outstanding when he came on and he played a huge part in us nearly getting something out of the game last weekend.

“It doesn’t surprise me because he’s a good professional who works hard at his game.

“He’s just making sure he gets up to speed because he’s a young kid who has not been full-time before so it will take him a bit of time to get up to the level. But I think we’re beginning to see now what Charlie can offer.”

Reilly will be hoping to play his part as seventh-placed Dundee face a challenging run of seven matches – four of them away – before the winter break.

Defender Joe Shaughnessy admitted it is a period that will go a long way to shaping their season.

“We’ve got tough fixtures, three away from home to start with,” he said.

“When we look back on it in January, it will tell us a lot about where we’re going to end up.

“Outside the top two everyone can beat everyone. You obviously don’t want to go on a losing run because that’s when you can start slipping away but other than that you’ll pick up wins, draws and a loss here and there, so it’s all about how you react when they come along.

“You can’t get too low when you come off a bad result so we’ll be looking to bounce back to winning ways this weekend.”