Stevenage striker eyeing two big performances against Slovakia and Germany at Windsor Park
Playing against Germany in their backyard is never easy but for Jamie Reid it was something he revelled in.
It was a massive step up for the striker from his normal club football for Stevenage in League One.
And while he accepts it was a huge challenge coming up against the likes of Rudiger, Kimmich and Wirtz, the 31-year-old said he takes great confidence from the performance.
“It was tough, especially considering where I play my club football, the difference in levels is massive,” said Reid.
“Your decision making’s gotta be quicker. I felt like sometimes when I got the ball, in League One I might be able to have another touch, then pass.
“Out there if I had a touch, they would be on me and I’d lose the ball. So it’s just adjusting to that sort of stuff. I love it, it’s pushing me to my limits.
“I didn’t think we showed them much respect, to be honest. I thought the game plan was good.
“We got told where we might be able to hurt them, and I think we did. We pressed them. Like I said, it was hard work, really hard. But yeah, like I said, we can only take confidence from that.
“I felt we were in the game, more than in the game. Maybe we look back and think, we didn’t have a strong squad, we had a good enough squad to get something, but maybe if we had more experience to bring on the pitch, we could have got something there.
“It was a great performance for 70 minutes, and we got done by a great free-kick, and I’m not really too sure what happened with the second goal.
“We can take confidence into these two games and we obviously play Germany again. I thought overall it was a successful two games, obviously disappointed with the result of the second game.
“I think everyone was disappointed not to take something away from that game.
“The manager said if we had three points it would be a good trip, anything more, a great trip, and we fell just short of that. But yeah, we’ll take confidence from it.”
Ahead of the return fixture with Germany on Monday night it’s Slovakia who visit Windsor Park first tomorrow night.
They caused a major upset in the first group game, beating Julian Nagelsmann’s side in Bratislava before edging out Luxembourg to top the group.
“I don’t think anyone was expecting that result against Germany, but yeah, Slovakia is a massive game, but every game’s been massive, to be fair,” said Reid.
“It was important for us to get off to a good start against Luxembourg, I think that was the game that we all thought, let’s get going.
“So hopefully Friday at home, with everyone behind us, we can get a positive result.
“The home crowd for Slovakia, in their first game, might have given them a boost, so we can look at that.
“They’re obviously going to be good. They’ve got some good individual players, and no game is easy to qualify for a tournament.
“It’s going to be really hard. So yeah, we know what we’re up against, and I feel like we’re ready for it.
“We just know what we’re good at. It’s a good young team, and we’re so good on the front foot, being aggressive.
“So we just need to bring our game plan, and not worry about anything else.
“When I first came here, I was like, these young boys are good, and yeah, they’ve only grown together.
“I’m fairly new to internationals, so these lads here, they are 21 or 22 and they’ve got more experience than me. So sometimes they’ll tell me what I need to do.
“But yeah, it’s a really good group, a young and hungry group, so it hasn’t surprised me in the slightest how good they’ve been.”
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