James Reid: Relishing The Expectation

JAMES Reid helped Rangers Under-19s to a well-earned clean sheet in league action on Saturday afternoon at Rugby Park, and the young defender says he’s relishing the expectation of representing the club.

The teenager has had to bide his time this campaign, mixing his involvement with the Under-19s with appearances for the Under-17s, but was an impressive performer for Malky Thomson’s side in the 2-0 win over Kilmarnock.

He signed his first professional contract with the Academy last summer after joining from Queen’s Park.

And the defender, tall and rangy in his play, says every day has been a learning experience since arriving at the club.

Speaking to the official Rangers website, Reid said of his first season in Gers colours: “It has been everything and more. Everyone has been very welcoming.

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290625 James Reid Signing 11

“I don’t think it was the best start coming off a season at Queen’s Park where I was playing a lot at Under-18 level at such a young age.

“Games like Saturday where I’m keeping clean sheets and playing sends a message out to try and cement the starting spot for me. It’s been a great move.

“That wasn’t the case at Queen’s Park, and the expectation here is that you need to win which is good for my development.

“The main ambition is to go and win the league, which means we’ll qualify for the Youth League.

“We were talking in the dressing room after the game and the next game is the biggest. We just look towards the next game because we know we need to win every game until the rest of the season, both in the cups and the league.

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190126 Rangers u19 vs Partick Thistle, James Reid 59

“We set the ambition at the start of the season to win every trophy that we can, and we want to go out and win every game that we can.”

Reid has found it difficult to establish himself in the heart of the Under-19s defence this season given the quality that has been ahead of him.

However, he certainly didn’t hurt his case with his showing in Ayrshire, marshalling a resolute central defensive unit alongside Conor Owen who opened the scoring with a header.

With a quality shot stopping display from Sam Reid behind them, the teenager says he enjoyed partnering up with Owen whose front-footed aggression is obvious.

Reid continued: “We communicate well, but credit to Sam too who made a couple of good saves. As a unit and a shape we played very well defensively. We won a lot of balls and we were good at the back.

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160226 Motherwell u19 vs Rangers u19, James Reid 173

“Whereas Conor can go and win the ball, I was more covering him and staying with him. We complement each other, and we’re very skilful and can play forward.

It was a priceless three points for the young Gers on Saturday afternoon, who were short of several key players owing to the current set of international fixtures.

They are still very much in the mix in the hunt for the league title, while they will be keen to get a positive outcome when St. Mirren visit in the CAS Elite League Cup group stage tomorrow evening.

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181225 Rangers u19 vs Motherwell u19, James Reid 02

On Saturday’s performance and victory, Reid added: “Throughout the game we kept the ball how we wanted. We done very well defensively, and the boys in front worked hard on getting to second balls.

“We won a lot of 50/50s, and although we didn’t keep the ball as well as we wanted we still had the chances and we took them.

“To go there is never easy with the pitch and how big it is. Although we didn’t play as well as we wanted to, getting results there is always big, and it’s good for the confidence.”

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