Reid openly admitted he feared what might have been had his side continued to perform against Newcastle as they had done in pre-season, instead they pleasantly surprised many with a stirring display.
Leeds showed great spirit after falling behind to an Alan Shearer penalty at Elland Road, drawing themselves level through Mark Viduka before Alan Smith cleverly latched onto a mistake from Magpies defender Olivier Bernard to give The Whites the lead.
Another Shearer goal two minutes from time denied Leeds three points, and Reid admitted praise was now due after heavily criticising them during the friendlies:
"I thought my team were great," he said.
"The players gave me everything they had. I cannot fault any of them. They have now set themselves standards for the rest of the season because they have got to do this week in and week out.
"I have to admit I was worried until yesterday, then there was a real spark in training which I hadn't sensed before.
"That gave me a lot of confidence and they took it into the game.
"The players came up with the goods, but now they have to do it every week."
Reid demands hard work and that is exactly what he received as the players made a mockery of the assertion they would be facing a season-long battle against relegation.
"I think the players deserve all the credit in the world because they've gone out there and done a terrific job for us.
"We played really well in certain areas but Newcastle put us under a lot of pressure but we kept on going. We got turned over by a lack of communication.
"I'm pleased with the performance but I know we could have won the game, and I'll have a word about that later in the week.
"Funnily enough, their penalty in the first half came from our attacking play when we were too stretched and they caught us on the break.
"We had a game plan and we stuck to it. Every Leeds United fan should be proud of them today.
"There's a long way to go, but all in all I've got to be pleased with the way they went about it. It's a good start."
Impressively, Reid's summer signings all shone, with Zoumana Camara strong at the back, Jody Morris solid in midfield, Lamine Sakho skilful down the left wing and Didier Domi making a solid cameo appearance for the last 30 minutes.