A short man of less than athletic physique, he began playing for Leadmill Street Mary"s and, very briefly, as an 18-year-old for Doncaster Rovers in March 1912. He had been on the teamsheet for Doncaster reserves as "South.O. Else" and managed a hattrick in what was his first game. The following Saturday he was playing for the first team in the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup final due to one of the Rovers strikers being injured, and another ineligible.
He scored two goals in a 3−1 victory and was carried off the field by the Rovers supporters.
However, due to him not being officially transferred from Leadmill, Doncaster were fined 10 shillings. Within a couple of weeks, he had joined Birmingham of the Football League Second Division.
Over the next three seasons Reed played only intermittently, apart from a run of nine consecutive games at the end of the 1912-1913 season in which he scored six goals, and he retired through injury in 1917.