[2][4] He appeared in around half of Brighton's matches over the next two seasons, but was ever-present in 1951–52, becoming the team's joint top scorer (alongside Ken Bennett) with 19 goals as Albion finished in fifth place.
[2] In his first season, Reed scored 13 league goals and earned himself a big reputation,[4][5][6] to the extent that Charles Buchan, writing in the News Chronicle, opined that his absence from three of the last six fixtures with a freak injury – a strain caused when he crossed his legs while seated in a chair – would likely deprive his team of their lead in the table.
[10] He missed a month early in the following season with a pulled thigh muscle,[11] but played regularly once fit, and contributed ten goals to Ipswich's second Southern Section title.
[4] With moments left of that season's FA Cup third round tie at home to Fulham, Ipswich were losing 3–2 when they "launched an attack which ended with Billy Reed crashing the ball into the visitors' net", fractionally after the referee's final whistle.
[16] Reed signed for Southern League club Worcester City, where he played alongside two other former international footballers, Roy Paul of Wales and Johnny Nicholls of England.
[5] The first man capped at senior international level while an Ipswich Town player,[8] he was reported to have had a good second half, but spent the night in a Cardiff hospital suffering from concussion.
[28][29] Reed worked for a chemicals company and as a local government officer, as well as coaching in youth football and scouting for Wales national team manager Dave Bowen.