Steven Reid: Equaliser Long time coming but well worth waiting for

I feared the worst. We were 1-0 down. We looked down and out. There was a minute left on the clock. It was over, not just the game but the campaign. Wasn't it?

But now, after this result, after Shane Long's brilliant equaliser, I'm optimistic. Poland are three points clear when it looked like it might be six. Germany and Scotland are just two ahead when it could have been three.

We have five games left and need to win three of them and draw the other two if we are to have any chance of making the plane to France. Can you see it happening? Truthfully?

I can. After this, I truly believe we can do it. But we need to turn draws into wins and for some reason, we just don't seem to win big games against big teams anymore.

We can get draws and have got some superb results on the road, against Germany recently, before that France, Russia, Italy. At home we tied with the Czechs going back to Steve Staunton's time.

But big wins? They have been few and far between.

That needs to change. We need to get one major win and kick on from there. And I genuinely thought that would come last night.

But no.

Games like these are determined by small margins. Ireland conceded one goal and that goal was preventable. As a defender, rule one is to clear your lines. Robbie Brady had to hit Row Z. He failed to do that.

Talented

I don't want to hang him out to dry because he is a talented player. He is the future and he had his moments last night. But the game was decided by little details and his mistake led to that goal. That's the harsh reality.

The harsh reality for Martin O'Neill and Ireland now is that they are in the toughest of all the groups. We needed a win last night. And when I saw the team selection, I thought we'd get it.

My optimism increased further after 20 seconds when Seamus Coleman set off on a 60-yard run which may not have led to anything significant in the short-term but in the context of this game was needed.

This was what I hoped for, an Ireland team, playing at home, having a go, something that hasn't happened in years.

Right through the Trapattoni reign, we were subjected to dour performance after dour performance.

His tactics, like the best years of his managerial career, were stuck in the 1980s. And to an extent they worked because it got us to Euro 2012 and to a play-off for South Africa 2010.

But when you look back on that era, there was a sense that Trap got away with it. How many 'big' teams did we actually beat in a competitive match? None.

We got plenty of decent results but they were all draws, essentially because the manager was happy enough with a point. That was his mentality. O'Neill's mindset was different last night.

He had opted for creativity and personally I was delighted with Wes Hoolahan's inclusion, with Brady's presence at left-back, with Robbie Keane's return in attack and the presence of two wingers in the team, we really disappointed in that first half.

And by half-time my mood had changed. Quite simply, we created next to nothing in those opening 45 minutes and after Poland, pretty much, had an answer to everything we had thrown at them, meaning Jon Walters and Hoolahan effectively had to swap positions.

We needed something different and it arrived in the shape of James McClean.

What I like about the Derry-man is his willingness to just go for it, to play off-the-cuff, to ignore reputations and to just take people on.

Players like that get the crowd going and with a full-house at the Aviva, and a superb atmosphere generated by the thousands of Poles who helped fill it, it felt like the old days.

Ireland's fans, in full voice, really do lift a team. I know. They had that effect on me when I was playing. They got the team going again in the second half last night too.

It looked like we'd get back into it. Brady's cross hit the post. McClean's cross for Keane brought out the best in Lukasz Fabianski. We were positive. We had Poland on the back foot.

But it was huff and puff. McClean helped us get in behind their full-backs and Poland, a physical team, coped with the aerial bombardment fairly comfortable.

What they couldn't cope with was McClean's pace. But we needed more. We needed our midfielders joining in with our forwards more. We needed better control of the ball.

We needed to be on top from the word go. Really we only started after we fell behind. By then it was too late to get the win. But at least we got a point.

That is three times now that we have scored last-minute goals in this campaign and that tells you a lot about the team. They are positive. They never give up. They believe they can get to France and with this result, perhaps they can.

But deep down, you know they need a big win. And soon. Draws won't be enough. But it was enough last night.