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Stevenage forward Jamie Reid opens up on recovery from blood clot that derailed season

Stevenage striker Jamie Reid talks with Sky Sports to discuss the shock injury that hindered the start of his 2024/25 campaign after scoring 18 goals in League One last season; watch Leyton Orient vs Stevenage live on Sky Sports Football from 7.30pm on Thursday

Patrick Rowe

Thursday 27 March 2025 15:33, UK

From the best season in his professional career to a crisis of confidence. It has been a turbulent season for Stevenage forward Jamie Reid but after months of uncertainty and struggle, he is on the road back to his best.

Fresh off the back of scoring 18 goals in League One in the last campaign, which saw Stevenage miss out on a place in the play-off picture by five points, Reid has been a shadow of his former self by his own admission - but it has been out of his control.

"The start of the year was slow because I had a blood clot in the summer," Reid told Sky Sports. "I didn't know where that was going to go or how I was going to come back from that.

"Missing pre-season, it's been tough this season to try and get a rhythm. Obviously, off the back of last season, it's been a bit frustrating, but it is what it is."

It is an uncommon injury amongst professional athletes and it was the fear of the unknown that plagued Reid when he discovered the issue by chance while holidaying during the summer.

He continued: "It was so strange because I just felt like a pinch in my calf on holiday when I was in Greece and I didn't really think anything of it.

"And then I flew to Dubai and I just woke up and I couldn't walk. It was quite scary. I had to go to hospital out there. It's just one of the things that I didn't know anything about and you just don't think it's going to happen to you.

"It did take me a while to start feeling a little bit normal, if I'm honest, probably longer than I wanted to."

Reid was allowed to train during his recovery from the blood clot but was ruled out of taking any contact until the problem had cleared - so it comes as no surprise that his performance levels had dipped when he was eventually given the green light to return to the field in September with no pre-season behind him.

Leyton Orient
Stevenage

Thursday 27th March 7:30pm

Reflecting on the stark contrast of his form in the current season since returning, where he has still notched 10 goal involvements across his 33 outings in the third tier of English football, Reid cited the lack of rhythm following the setback as the main reason he has not been able to reach the same levels.

"That's probably the best I've felt [2023/24]. I was in a complete rhythm. I was playing week in, week out.

"We had a clear identity and it helped because we had that manager for a few years. Everyone was on the same script.

"As a striker, when your rhythm is going, everything falls for you."

With two goals in his last four appearances for the Boro, and his next opportunity to add to his tally approaching against Leyton Orient live on Sky Sports, there are signs that Reid is rediscovering his finest form in front of goal.

At the height of his powers, his prowess earned a maiden call-up to the international stage with Northern Ireland, where he would go on to score on his debut against Romania, and he is determined to get back to that level after he was omitted from Michael O'Neill's most recent squad ahead of the World Cup qualifiers in September.

"I had a call with the manager and from where he was at, he wanted to have a look at some young lads," Reid said.

"He knew what I can do up front, but he felt that the level that I was at the moment wasn't where I had been in the past, which is understood. I kind of expected it.

"But if you had asked me four or five years ago when I was playing in the National League if I was going to be playing international football, I would have laughed.

"The aim is to be in there for the qualifiers and I'll be trying everything to get back there."