Reid relishing midfield role

Steven Reid put two years of injury misery behind him to remind the Republic of Ireland of just what they had been missing.

The 26-year-old Blackburn midfielder anchored Giovanni Trapattoni’s side as they launched their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-1 victory over Georgia in Mainz last night and in the process, confirmed his long-awaited return to fitness.

Reid, whose last appearance for his country before the recent friendly in Norway had come against Germany almost two years earlier, turned in an assured display alongside Glenn Whelan in a dual midfield holding role as Trapattoni’s masterplan paid dividends.

Having spent so long watching Ireland’s games from afar because of injury, he was simply thrilled to be back in the picture.

Reid said: “I’m delighted. To be out of the squad so long with injury, I am delighted to be back in the fold.

“It’s a pretty new role in the side and I am seeing plenty of the ball, which I am enjoying.

“I am enjoying playing alongside Glenn in there – he has been brilliant – so I am really enjoying it.”

Reid’s blossoming partnership with Whelan has been perhaps the biggest change made by Trapattoni, who has resisted the temptation to throw Sunderland’s Andy Reid into the mix, controversially so for many commentators.

Stoke midfielder Whelan has been ever present since the Italian took over at the helm, and he marked his fourth cap at the Bruchweg Stadium last night with his first senior international goal.

His contribution to the victory – his 70th-minute strike put Ireland 2-0 in front after Kevin Doyle had headed home a 13th-minute Aiden McGeady cross – came after he spent his club’s last two Barclays Premier League games on the bench.

Reid, who will hope to start against Montenegro in Podgorica on Wednesday, said: “It’s surprising he has not played the last couple of games at club level.

“He is great technically, a great passer of the ball, he can put his foot in as well, and I have been really impressed with him in the last couple of games.

“Hopefully we can improve the partnership and go forward.

“It is a bit of an Italian way, maybe. He [Trapattoni] likes us two to sit in there and keep the ball.

“But Glenn chipped in with a goal on Saturday night, which we are all delighted about. I am really enjoying the partnership, and hopefully that will continue on Wednesday.”

Whelan’s goal owed as much to keeper Giorgi Loria’s blunder as it did to the midfielder’s shot, and Reid, who had earlier seen the Georgian make a fine save from his drilled effort, could not resist a good-natured aside.

He said: “I got hold of the ball well there, and then he let in Glenn’s shank!

“But we will take any goal that goes in. We were a little disappointed to concede the goal at the end going into the last couple of minutes, but it was a good result.

“But now it is about getting our heads back on for Wednesday.”

The victory got Ireland off to the perfect start in Group 8 as world champions Italy needed an injury-time winner to see off Cyprus and Montenegro were pegged back at the death by Bulgaria in a 2-2 draw.

A positive result in midweek would give Trapattoni and his players the perfect start, and no-one in the camp is in any doubt as to how valuable that could be.

Reid said: “We probably would have taken four points from the two games, but now we have got the win, there is no reason why we can’t get a win on Wednesday and go home with the six points.”

Full-back Kevin Kilbane will make his 50th consecutive competitive appearance in that game, if selected, after reaching 49 wearing a protective mask over his fractured cheekbone in Mainz.

He later modestly played down Trapattoni’s praise for his attitude, and insisted he took no unnecessary risks.

Kilbane said: “I had spoken to [Wigan boss] Steve Bruce on Monday before I came over here and he was very good with me, in all honesty.

“He just said to me, ’If you are not right, don’t play’, and I knew that if I wasn’t right, I wasn’t going to play.

“I would just have been disappointed if I had been sat at home watching the match knowing I was fit to play and available.”