Orient Away 23/24 – Lincoln

With the away trips for this season running out we headed to Lincoln to take on the free-scoring inform Imps at Sincil bank. This was our first visit back since the two teams played out a 1-1 draw in 2006. Lincoln is a really nice city, and well worth a visit if you ever get a chance. There are direct trains from King’s Cross and once you arrive at the station you can walk up Steep Hill (They left off ‘Ridiculously’ from the start of the name) to the Castle/Cathedral area which is very nice. There are also a plethora of pubs to choose from, with chain pubs, real ale pubs and everything inbetween.

The ground is the opposite side of the station from this area, so its around a 20 minute walk or a taxi. Whenever we’ve visited Sincil Bank away fans have been shunted around. On this occasion we were back in the Stacey West Stand behind the goal, a stand which is in desperate need of the current ongoing renovation. The rest of the ground is completed by the impressive GBM stand down the Sincil Bank side (Something we COULD have had at Brisbane Road instead of the monstrosity we we’re lumbered with), a very small stand behind the other goal and an odd stand which only goes down around 30% of the other side.

In keeping with recent weeks the team pretty much picked itself due to the injury crisis, although Jordan Brown did come into the starting line-up. There wasn’t really much to write home about as Orient had the best of a fairly uneventful first half. Orient’s best chances fell to Cooper and Forde, while Taylor will be wondering how he failed to hit the target when catching the Orient defence asleep from a quick free-kick.

The second half continued in the same vein as Moncur and O’Neill replaced an ineffective Sanders and Forde. O’Neill in particular looked lively, and had one of Orient’s best chances when his header just cleared the crossbar. With a few minutes left on the clock Idris El Mizouni went down holding his knee after falling awkwardly following a cross. Given the way he went off it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the last we see of him, and if it is then it’s gutting it’s ended that way for him. Jensen denied both Galbraith and Hunt as the game looked to be heading for a stalemate until the Orient defence decided to impersonate the keystone cops. After Beckles switched off I can’t even begin to try to work out what Jordan Brown was doing as he gave the ball away to Makama who gladly cut inside to grab all 3 points for Lincoln. A complete shambles at the back.

It’s looking like it’s the end of our playoff push now. I know we’re not mathematically out of it, but it would take an exceptional run now to snatch that coveted 6th place. With the fact that we have only scored 1 goal in our last 5 matches that’s not looking very likely, but you can never say never.

We only have six games left this season, and only two of those are on the road with trips to Derby and Shrewsbury (The latter of which the EFL have helpfully decided should be a 12:30 kick-off because Sky have suddenly remembered League One football exists). See you there.

Orient Away 23/24 – Stevenage

Our latest away trip was also what I would view as our worst one of the season with the short tip into Hertfordshire to take on Stevenage. It’s an awful trip on so many levels – there’s nowhere decent to get a drink, you’re almost guaranteed an awful game of football, and with it being a local game you have the “Sit in your seat v Sit anywhere” arguments. All in all you can see why so many people give it a miss.

The ground is around a 20 minute walk from Stevenage station, although a lot of people tend to drive as it’s quicker/easier. If you want to go by train and have a drink then my advice would be to have a drink in King’s Cross (hello Scottish Stores) as apart from the awful Old Post Office (Which makes Wetherspoons look like the Ritz) there is nowhere to get a drink anywhere near the station.

The Lamex Stadium is a strange one. You can tell it’s evolved from it’s non-league days with the new stands added etc, but with a big crowd in the away end you get a ‘not fit for purpose’ vibe even though it is a fairly new stand. The 30 minute queue for food/drink was testament to that.

There were no real surprises with the lineup (As mentioned in the last blog with the amount of injuries we have the team virtually picks itself) as Pigott once again led the line against what was sure to be a physical Stevenage defence. On that note I’m not going to wade in on the whole Steve Evans hate – he’s not my cup of tea but he does know how to get results with the brand of football he produces. It’s not a style I would want to watch every week, but to have a team the size of Stevenage up battling for the playoffs in League One you have to say fair play to him.

The first half kicked off and, surprisingly, we saw a complete change in style from Orient. For the first time that I can remember since Wellens took charge we decided to match the hosts long ball game rather than risk playing out from the back and losing out to the Stevenage press. I think this also took them by surprise as I don’t think they would have expected that either. There wasn’t really much to write home about in the opening stages, as both teams were bypassing the midfield with long balls. Orient did take the lead though when Sotiriou played in Sanders who grabbed his first Orient goal with a strike into the bottom corner. There was some controversy after 24 minutes when Reid scored but it was disallowed for a previous handball. I haven’t seen a replay but at the time it seemed like a harsh call. Stevenage continued to threaten from set pieces, but both Oliver and Reid were wasteful with the chances that came their way.

Evans surprisingly made four substitutions at half time as he looked to drag Stevenage back in the game. These changes had an immediate effect as for the first 20 minutes or so Stevenage were definitely on top but were still wasteful in front of goal. Orient did have a couple of chances to extend their lead but Pigott saw his effort blocked before Beckles headed well wide. Orient replaced Pigott for Adu-Adjei which gave some fresh legs up front, as the game fizzled out into a 1-0 win for Orient.

There were some interesting scenes at the final whistle when Wellens was goading the Stevenage fans by lifting an imaginary trophy and Sweeney took exception to it which resulted in the pair of them squaring up to each other as the fans started drifting out of the ground. I somehow can’t imagine that Wellens and Evans went for a friendly pint after the game.

With the injuries we have, and the fact that Evans has had the better of Wellens tactically in the last few encounters I was expecting this game to be a lot tougher than it was. As it happens you have to tip your hat to Wellens for realising that our usual approach would probably have been a ‘lambs to the slaughter’ affair, resulting in us playing with a style that nobody probably wanted to see but it got the result. We now have nearly two weeks off for the players to recharge their batteries before two very difficult easter games against Lincoln and Peterborough. If we can somehow come out of those two with six points then maybe we can start asking “Can we?”. See you there.

Orient Away – Wigan

As we approach the end of the season we don’t have that many away games left, and Wigan was the furthest of those. It was however, a highly anticipated one as it’s a decent town to visit (Especially if you’re a pie or real ale fan) and I imagine the ground would be a new one for most O’s fans.

Wigan is a doddle to get to by train, but you are at the mercy of the worst Train Operating Company in the country – Avanti. We would, typically, suffer with numerous cancellations on the way home due to them running their usual abysmal standard of service.

Once you arrive in Wigan there are plenty of pub options around, but there was one we had heard about and wanted to try which was The Raven. If you are ever in the area I would definitely recommend a visit and would urge you to try one of the numerous pies they have on offer – probably the best pie I have ever had in a pub.

The ground is in a retail park about a mile away from the station, so it’s around a 20 minute walk or you can hop in a cab. Being a relatively new stadium, all four stands are typically the same design. They do however offer decent views of the pitch.

With the injury crisis still in full swing the team pretty much picks itself, although with George Moncur being out through illness it was a surprise to see another start handed to Pratley rather than Jordan Brown. Wigan had the better of the opening ten minutes, before Orient grew into the game and started dominating possession. For all the decent possession Orient created very little, with Cooper missing from close range before a shot from Darren Pratley was deflected wide and the officials bizarrely gave a goal kick. Just before half time Magennis really should have opened the scoring for Wigan but somehow missed the target when unmarked yards from goal. Two minutes later the match became an uphill battle for Orient, when Galbraith failed to control a ball and followed through with a high boot to the head. Even though the Wigan players spoke up for him you really couldn’t complain when the second yellow card came out (Even if his first booking was a bit harsh). Orient immediately made a defensive switch tasking off O’Neill and bringing on Hunt (A strange one for me considering Forde was also on a yellow and a seemingly more obvious sacrifice)

At half time Orient made another defensive switch with Brown coming on for Sanders, as it became clear the objective was going to be to try and defend out for a 0-0 (Rumours that Kenny Jackett immediately tuned in on an illegal stream are yet to be proven). This became more apparent a few minutes later when Orient replaced Forde with Sweeney in an “Ultra Defensive” Football Manager style tactic. This seemed to be working as Orient frustrated the hosts who, having bought on Ex-O Charlie Kelman, still didn’t create much in the way of goalscoring opportunities despite their domination. In the 73rd minute though the Orient defence switched off and left Kerr with the easiest header from the edge of the 6 yard box. Wellens then decided to go a bit more attacking to try and get back in the game by introducing Pigott and Adu-Adjei but it was too little, too late as Wigan held on comfortably for the win.

I think this was a game where we were the architect of our own downfall. We were more than comfortable with 11 v 11, and I am convinced we would have gone on to win if that had stayed the case. I do however think Wellens got it wrong going so defensive with so much of the game left to play, but I can see why he did it. Next up is a home game against Port Vale which, even with all our injuries, you have to say we should be looking at winning. This is followed by the worst away game of the season – Stevenage. See you there.

Orient Away 23/24 – Oxford

Following on from a couple of successive home games we found ourselves with another short trip, this time into Oxfordshire. Both Orient and Oxford fans over a certain age will never be able to forget the events of the game here in May 2006, when a Lee Steele goal in the 6th minute of stoppage time in a match which saw Orient go up and Oxford down into non-league.

Oxford is well served by trains from London, and can be done in 40 minutes from Paddington. The ground however is over 4 miles from the town centre, so be prepared for a taxi (Which cost us around £16) or a 45 minute bus ride. Unless you’ve pre-booked a taxi afterwards you can pretty much forget it and head for the bus.

Oxford is a nice town, although it was very busy on this particular weekend as it seems there was a lot of student graduation ceremonies going on. I’m not sure if that level of business is the ‘norm’ or if we just so happened to visit on a busy weekend. We tried to pubs which were nice, but very packed. The Turf Tavern (Which claims to be the oldest in Oxford and has had a lot of ‘famous’ punters, and the White Horse. From here we wandered back to the station and jumped in a cab to the ground. If you want something to drink around the ground then you can pretty much forget it. It’s in the middle of a retail park, and unless you get to the one sports bar thats there really early you won’t get in. There was a long queue at the bar at the bowling alley, but we sacked that off and just went in the ground and got drinks under the stand.

Despite the good memories at the Kassam stadium, it’s not one of my favourites. It’s in an awful location, it’s a pain to get to by public transport, and to top it off it only has three sides. I (and I expect many Oxford fans) will welcome the new stadium if it ever comes to fruition. Theres not much really to describe the ground other that to say away fans get one half of one of the three identikit stands. The view is pretty good though as there are no pillars etc.

With the injury crisis still hitting Orient hard there were no real surprises to the starting eleven, with James and Sotiriou coming in for Hunt and Edwards. Orient had a lot of the early possession, but failed to create many clear cut chances until Oxford took the lead after 20 minutes as Goodrham flicked a low cross into the bottom corner. The rest of the half followed a pattern of Orient having possession, not taking chances, and Oxford looking to break on the counter.

The game came more to life in the second half when Ollie O’Neill rounded off a lovely move with a good finish into the bottom corner. Following this Orient started to ramp up the pressure and James saw his free kick well saved as Orient ramped up the pressure. On 77 minutes the ball fell to George Moncur who cut inside and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner. This seemed to wake Oxford up and they finally started playing, with the last part of the game played out with Oxford pretty much camped in the Orient half. Rob Hunt threw himself in front of a goalbound shot from Dale as Oxford started to turn the screw. On 84 minutes Wellens got himself sent off yet again for delaying the restart of the game. I believe that’s his third red card of the season, and he really needs to cut that out as another lengthy touchline ban is surely incoming. As we headed into the 7 minutes of stoppage time it was time for not one, not two, but three Orient players to hit the deck simultaneously with cramp. We’re used to seeing it happen to see some time out (Let’s face it every team does it) but it was a ridiculous (And funny at the same time) to see three of them do it. I doubt the Oxford fans saw the funny side though. The ref also didn’t seem too amused as he added an extra three minutes on to the allocated time, but Oxford couldn’t find an equaliser.

There were a lot of positives to take out of this match. It was good to bounce back after the poor result against Burton last week, and it was also good to secure 3 points away at a good side with us still having half a first team out injured. Personally I still think we have too much to do to grab a playoff place, but if we can beat Blackpool on Tuesday we might be able to think “Can we?”. Even if we don’t and we end up in mid-table it’s not been a bad first season back at this level, particularly when you look at the injury situation. There were also a couple of negatives – I’ve already covered the Wellens sending off with my thoughts but we also picked up another 6 yellow cards. This sort of number is happening regularly now and is something we need to stamp out as suspensions will start to cost us, which is something we can’t afford during this injury crisis.

Coming up we have two home matches before a trip to Wigan, which is one I’ve been looking forward to for a while. See you there.

Orient Away 23/24 – Barnsley

After a few local away games and Port Vale being arranged on the only sodding Tuesday that we couldn’t get time off work it was good to get back to a decent away trip as we headed to Barnsley. It’s not a regular trip for Orient, and we had only visited there once in the 35+ years that I have been going regularly.

Barnsley has everything you want as a travelling fan – the ground is within walking distance of the station, there are plenty of decent pubs to choose from. Also it is dangerous if, like me, you are a fan of Retro terrace clothing as there is an 80’s Casual Classics shop. Those that know me will know I usually turn up kitted out in a Sergio or Ellesse tracksuit top, so I couldn’t help adding another Sergio to the collection! We had food in the Wetherspoons before heading to the Old No 7 and Peaky’s Bar, both of which were good for different reasons. The Old No 7 is a proper football pub and one for the real ale fans, while Peaky’s Bar was a Peaky Blinders themed pub with more of your cocktails etc on offer.

Oakwell is a really nice stadium. Away fans get a large stand behind the goal which gives an excellent view. The ground is completed by two other large stands, plus an older stand down one side which looked in desperate need of modernisation.

The teams were announced, and the pre-match rumours of Archibald being out injured were confirmed when O’Neill was handed his first start in a very inexperienced Orient lineup. There was an open start to the game with both sides having early chances and Brynn producing the first of many fine saves to deny Cole . After ten minutes Moncur burst into the box and pulled the ball back for Sotiriou to finish. Shortly afterwards the Orient injury crisis continued with Dan Happe having to go off injured and being replaced by the only other remaining centre back Brandon Cooper. From here onwards Barnsley were very much on top as Orient started to defend deeper and deeper, and if it wasn’t for the heroics of Brynn in the Orient goal then Barnsley would have gone in at half time at least level, if not comfortably in front.

Shortly after half time Orient picked up yet another injury with Sotirou having to go off. He was replaced by Joe Pigott (Much to the mumblings of discontent in the away end). Just after the hour mark Moncur and Forde were withdrawn and replaced by Pratley and Hunt as it became apparent that Orient were going to park the bus and try and defend out a 1-0. Despite Barnsley passing up numerous chances due to a combination of great keeping by Brynn and wasteful finishing it looked like Orient might actually hold out. This was until two minutes from time when Brynn, who up until then had put in a man of the match performance, was beaten to a long ball by Phillips and his header looped into the empty net with Brynn floundering on the edge of the box. Before the restart Connell was shown a red card in a decision that seemed to baffle everyone in the stadium apart from the referee. As seven minutes of stoppage time was signalled the ten men were still very much on top (Where have we heard that before?) and the inevitable winner came when Phillips was inexplicably left unmarked from a set piece to emphatically head home.

As annoying/gutting/frustrating/typical (Delete as appropriate) it was to see the unbeaten run end in that matter it was, in all honestly, what Orient probably deserved. To go so defensive on a one goal lead with so long left in the game saw them being the architects of their own downfall. We saw this work numerous times in our League Two championship winning campaign, but stepping up a level against good teams like this will see those sort of tactics found out far more often that not. That said though, there were some real knee-jerk reactions on social media. “Sack the manager”, “Sell the club Travis”, “Half this lot should never play for us again”. We currently sit 9th in the league in our first season back at this level, and this was our first defeat in nine games. A run that also included taking some big scalps like Portsmouth, Bolton etc. I’m one of the most critical fans out there, but even I can see that this squad is punching above it’s weight. When you also consider we ended the game with Happe, Sotiriou, Archibald, Agyei, Graham etc on the injured list it was always going to be a struggle. Yes we didn’t help ourselves with the tactics. Yes it would have been nice to be a bit more gutsy and thrown on one of the new loanees instead of Pigott and “Gone for it”, but if you was Wellens would you really have thrown in an untried teenager whilst you were hanging on away at one of the best teams in the division? If he had and it had panned out the same way with Barnsley grabbing a late winner people would have cried out “Why didn’t he bring on some experience?”

The games are coming thick and fast now and we have two winnable home games against Northampton and Burton before another difficult looking trip to Oxford. Hopefully the injury to Happe isn’t too bad, otherwise we could be entering into those games having to play a makeshift centre back should another injury occur. See you there.

Orient Away 23/24 – Reading

Our latest trip was also one of the shortest of the season as we headed into Berkshire to take on crisis club Reading in the ‘Elizabeth Line Derby’. The troubles at Reading are well documented and, due to the actions of another owner that the wonderful EFL deem to be ‘Fit & Proper’ there are a lot of worries over if the club will even exist come the end of the season. Having been there and done that we know exactly what the fans and staff at the club are going through and can only hope that they get decent owners in the same way that we did.

Getting to Reading itself is easy enough. There’s plenty of fast trains from Paddington which will have you there in 25 minutes, or if you fancy it you can stick out the Elizabeth Line all the way from Whitechapel but that will take you over an hour. We opted for the former, not least for the fact that living on the Elizabeth Line we know how poor and unreliable the service is.

Once you arrive in Reading there are plenty of pub options. We opted to eat at the ‘Back of Beyond’ Wetherspoons, which wasn’t as bad as it sounds, before having drinks in The Outlook which overlooks the River Kennet. I’d recommend that place if you like your cocktails/shots. I believe our real ale fans headed to The Alehouse and The Nags Head. If having a drink is not your thing you can always treat yourself to a facial at the ‘Beauty of the Orient’

The ground really isn’t walkable from the town centre unless you fancy a 1-hour hike, so there are three options. Taxi (Good luck getting one after), Shuttle Bus (Again – good luck with the queue after) or train to Reading Green Park and take a 15 minute walk to the ground. We opted for the bus, but I think for future visits we will go the Green Park route.

The Select Car Leasing was a rare new ground for me in the EFL, which bought me up to 84 out of the 92 visited. For me it seemed like one of the better ‘new builds’ in that even though it is a bowl it still had a bit of character. There was also a decent amount of legroom and you didn’t feel crammed in at all. Away fans got part of the South stand and also the upper tier of the corner section.

There was one change to the starting line-up with Ruel Sotiriou coming in for the injured Max Sanders. This was a blow as Sanders has been playing very well recently and a pivotal part of the midfield. Reading had the better of the opening exchanges, as it soon became clear that this game wasn’t going to be the ‘walk in the park’ that some Orient fans were predicting. Orient however did take the lead when the ref spotted a handball in the area and Dan Agyei slotted home the penalty following probably the slowest run up I’ve ever seen. He continued his recent trend of ‘stealing’ trademark opposition celebrations, and this led to him getting some racist abuse on Twitter which was rightly condemned by the majority of both sets of fans. This spurred Reading on even more, and they equalised a few minutes later when Knibbs was left unmarked following a corner as Orient’s run of clean sheets came to an end. Reading edged the rest of the first half, with Orient trying to hit them on the break, but neither side could find a goal to take a lead into the break.

Wellens acted quickly at half time to address the weak areas of the side, with a very poor Sweeney and Sotiriou being replaced by James and Pratley. The second half proceeded to be a lively affair, with both sides being bemused at the decisions of ‘Premier League Ref’ Graham Scott, and both sides pressing for a winner. Orient’s best chance fell to Agyei with ten minutes left, but Button did well to turn his effort around the post. Reading will also be wondering how they didn’t seal the 3 points as James made two outstanding blocks.

I saw some people saying it was disappointing not to win, but this was never going to be an easy match. Despite all their troubles Reading have a decent home record, and it was never going to be as easy as some thought. This point keeps the unbeaten run going, and even the best sides in this division are not going to win every match. Next up is Carlisle at home, which would be ‘Typical Orient’ to lose that one after all the good results recently. Unfortunately (Or fortunately depending on your viewpoint) there will be no blog from Port Vale as I can’t make it, so next blog will be from Barnsley in a couple of weeks.

Orient Away 23/24 – Portsmouth

Due to being away with family over Xmas/New Year I decided to take a break from blogging the games. Bolton was a strange one where we could have been 5-0 down at half time, but ended up being unlucky not to nick a point despite being 3-0 down after ten minutes. Cambridge was as comfortable away win as you are likely to see at this level, with the hosts providing no threat whatsoever as Orient strolled to a win.

This week we headed down to Portsmouth, for the sort of match that we got promoted to this division for. Despite it’s relevant proximity to London it takes 2 hours to get there buy train, which is crazy when you think you can get to Preston in pretty much the same time. It’s not great for drinking options around the ground, so we headed to the harbour and, after doing the routine tourist pics of the HMS Warrior and the Spinnaker Tower we tried two pubs. First up was the Ship & Castle where, surprisingly, we were the only ones in. Pretty much right next door was the Ship Anson, and this was a much better and more lively pub. I’d recommend this one if you do visit the area. The Brittania Fish shop between the two pubs is also well worth a visit. From the harbour you can either take a taxi to Fratton Park, or jump on the train back to Fratton which is about 10 mins walk from the stadium.

The away end at Portsmouth has been converted into a mixture of Safe Standing and seats. I like this arrangement because those who want to sit can do in the front rows, leaving those of us that want to stand to do so at the back without various yells of “sit down” etc. The concourse area behind this stand however is absolute shit, which comes with the age of the stand I suppose. The rest of the ground is made up of seated stands which make up one of the better grounds in the division.

There were no real shocks with the starting eleven, although Ruel Sotiriou did return to the bench. Orient kicked off and immediately went on the attack with a ball through to Forde that ended up with a corner. As expected Portsmouth pressed forward with Orient looking dangerous on the break. After the 20 minute mark Orient started to turn the screw and Forde almost gave Orient the lead when his drive was deflected just over. Orient had a huge let off after 28 minutes though, when Lane spurned two chances in quick succession (The second one of which he really should have done better). On the half hour mark though Forde finally found the back of the net rounding off an excellent move to fire past Norris. Shortly after it was 2-0 when a corner found it’s way to Happe, who managed to hit the ball against the arse of Jordan Brown and the ball bobbled into the bottom corner. It was amusing to see Brown run off celebrating it like he meant it. At this point it was all about getting to half time with the two goal lead in tact but then came what was, in my opinion, the pivotal part of the match when Portsmouth won a penalty for a late challenge. Sol Brynn was on hand to save the weak effort from Bishop, and had Portsmouth scored they would definitely have had their tales up. As it happened Agyei buried a header into the top corner to give Orient a 3 goal lead and you could see the body language of the Portsmouth players change. Pompey were booed off by their fans at half time as most Orient fans were looking at each other saying “What the fuck?”

I said at half time that what we needed for the second half was not to give Portsmouth an early route back into the game, and it turned out exactly that way. With Sotiriou coming on for the increasingly impressive Agyei he was causing all sorts of problems on the break, as Orient professionally saw out the second 45 minutes with hardly any threat on our goal.

Before the match I, and most other Orient fans I suspect, would happily have taken a draw. To come away with such a comprehensive victory, particularly after the 0-4 home capitulation to Pompey in August, was just unbelievable. Twitter after the game was amusing, with quite a few “Should be beating clubs like Orient” tweets. As Orient fans will tell you from our spell in the National League, that is exactly the sort of attitude that gets you nowhere (6-1 defeat at Bromley anyone?) and you have no divine right to beat anybody on that football pitch. All that was left was to grab a few cans before the journey back to London, and reflect on the type of day that doesn’t around too often when you support a “club like this”

Next up on the road is Reading, whose fans have far bigger things to worry about than the result on the day. Please give them your support in whatever method of protest they seem fit on the day – even if it does end up in another abandonment and some out of pocket/inconvenience for the short journey. See you there.

Orient Away 23/24 – Cheltenham

In the first of back-to-back away trips in the run-up to Christmas we headed to Gloucestershire to take on Cheltenham. Whaddon Road is not a happy hunting ground for Orient, with myself having only seen Orient win once in ten previous visits (Not counting the FA Cup victory when we played Gloucester City on the same ground).

You can reach Cheltenham Spa by GWR train from Paddington, although the station is over 2 miles from the ground so it’s a taxi if you can’t/don’t want to undertake that long walk. The town centre is also a mile away from the station, so it is useful to break the walk up by stopping off somewhere there. We opted for the Frog & Fiddle which didn’t do food, but did do Teapot Cocktails and various multi-coloured shots so was right up our street.

Whaddon Road is a small but functional ground. Away fans get a seated stand behind the goal which has the scenic backdrop of the hills in the background and it’s not a bad view. Home fans get a seated stand down each side and a covered terrace behind the other goal.


There were no real shocks in the lineup, with Beckles coming into the backline with Cooper suspended. There was also a first stary for Dan Agyei with Pigott dropping back to the bench. The game started and almost immediately the referee built a rod for his own back by booking Beckles for an innocuous looking challenge. This was to become apparent 15 minutes later when he had no choice but to produce two yellow cards in the space of a minute for Williams. He was left with no choice having shown the early card to Beckles, but it left Cheltenham with an uphill struggle. This should have been the catalyst for Orient to take the game by the scruff of the neck, but as we know with this team that rarely happens lately. Indeed apart from a header from Pratley looping off the bar Orient yet again didn’t look like scoring despite having an extra man.

In the second half Wellens threw the dice by withdrawing Agyei, Hunt and Moncur to be replaced by Pigott, James and Galbraith. The change didn’t really have much effect, and Pratley gave away a penalty soon after which Goodwin converted. Wellens went a bit more attacking after this, bringing on Forde for Pratley which seemed to finally wake Orient up from an attacking point of view. As expected with being down to ten men for so long, the hosts were tiring towards the end of the game as they defended deeper and deeper. Orient still didn’t really look like scoring though, until a cross from Forde was turned past his own keeper by Long. The hosts would have been gutted to let two points slip, but then 4 minutes later Galbraith had a tame shot at goal which took a huge deflection and slowly bounced into the bottom corner with the keeper flat footed. Cue celebrations in the away end at somehow snatching three points from the match.

I’ve seen a few comments from Cheltenham fans saying we didn’t deserve it etc and they are right – we probably didn’t. However as a football fan this is what makes the sport great – we’ve all been there and seen our teams absolutely shithouse a result they didn’t deserve. We’ve also all been there and seem our teams completely dominate the match and lose to the oppositions only shot on goal. It’s gutting but it happens.

It’s great to get three points on the board after the long winless run in the league, but there was a lot of ‘papering over the cracks’ with this result. We shouldn’t forget that, for large parts of the game, you would not have known that the bottom team only had ten men. We also shouldn’t forget that, again for large parts of the game, we didn’t remotely look like scoring. Finally though, we also shouldn’t forget that this was another late show and another extremely late goal which shows the team don’t give up. Will it be the spark that gets our season back on track, or was it just a fluke result against a tiring team who had a man less? The busy Christmas schedule will tell us a lot about that. See you at Bolton.

Orient Away 23/24 – Chesterfield

Hot on the heels of the midweek trip to Bristol we headed up to Derbyshire to face Chesterfield in the FA Cup, with the winners having an away trip to Watford to look forward to. There are frequent trains from St Pancras to Chesterfield, although the ground is a 25-30 minute walk from the station.

There are plenty of drinking options here, with numerous decent pubs in the town centre, plus The Red Lion a few minutes past the ground welcomes away fans. The ground itself is a nice ground, and has a bit of character for a new build. Unlike our last visit when we were seated on the side, we were sat behind the goal for this one which was a decent view.

The starting lineup (and the bench) was pretty much as expected, although Adam Thompson did return to the bench for the first time in an eternity. It was clear from the off that the Orient players didn’t fancy it, with Chesterfield forcing two early corners. Chesterfield hassled and hurried the Orient players all over the pitch, and they didn’t like it one bit. I don’t know if they thought that Chesterfield would just stand off and let them play, but whatever was in their heads they certainly weren’t up for the fight. Bryn saved well from Griggs audacious backheel, and there were a few instances of the final ball letting Chesterfield down before they took the lead when an own goal looped over Brynn into the back of the net. Shortly after Orient were dealt the latest in a long line of injury blows with Sotiriou being replaced by Agyei.

At half time Orient replaced Forde (Who I genuinely don’t remember touching the ball) and Sanders with Pigott and Pratley, as Orient had their only spell of the game where they looked vaguely like a football team. This didn’t last long however and, with Archibald and El Mizouni being replaced by Moncur and Galbraith you kind of got the feeling that the game was pretty much being conceded. Orient did have a couple of shouts for handball but the ref wasn’t interested, and with a bit more composure on the break Chesterfield could have extended their lead.

I believe we are on a run of one win in ten games now in all competitions. Following a similar pattern to recent matches we created nothing and didn’t even look like scoring (No 94th minute own goal to save us today) which is really worrying. I can take losing. We’re Orient supporters – we’ve all seen it hundreds of times. What I can’t take though is a team that looks beaten from the moment they step on the pitch, and putting in effort levels to match. We’ve got a tough run of games coming up, and I don’t envy Wellens trying to sort this out with morale clearly on the floor.

Next up a tough home game with Derby before a trip to Cheltenham. Is it too early to call that one a relegation six-pointer? See you there.

Orient Away 23/24 – Bristol Rovers

After a run of successive home games it was good to get back on our travels again with a midweek trip over to Bristol. Bristol has good road and rail connections, although The Memorial Stadium is a long way out of Bristol city centre, and if arriving at Temple Meads by train it involves a cab or a bus to get there.

We headed down early so we could take in the Bristol Christmas Market, and did the typical ‘Christmas Market Tourist’ stuff like eating Bratwurst and drinking Christmas cocktails. There are more than enough drinking establishments in and around the city centre, we opted for the Four Quarters which was a bar that had old style arcade games like Street Fighter, Crazy Taxi etc, before eating at Walkabout and jumping in a cab to the ground.

The Memorial Stadium is finally having some changes done to it, with the ‘Gazebo’ stand behind the goal being replaced by a new seated stand. Unfortunately it wasn’t finished in time for our visit, so another game on that awful little open terrace awaited us. Hopefully away fans will have at least part of the new stand the next time we visit.

There were two changes from the team that started the Wigan match, with Tom James and Aaron Drinan coming into the starting lineup. George Moncur and Ethan Galbraith didn’t even make the bench, but it was good to see Adam Thompson doing some running in the warmups.

The first half was, in truth, a drab affair. Orient were content to play the unthreatening possession based football that we have seen away from home lately, and Bristol Rovers were employing the tactic of getting the ball into Chris Martin as quickly as possible. Orient actually ended up having more players injured (2) than tangible efforts on goal before some poor defending from a set-piece allowed Ward to give the hosts the lead on the stroke of half time.

In the second half Orient pushed for an equaliser with Theo Archibald causing a lot of problems down the left hand side. However the ongoing problem of our strikers being completely incapable of anticipating any of the balls into the box meant that all his deliveries went to waste. We also wasted a succession of corners as well, culminating in a ridiculous one that was passed back to Archibald in an offside position and he had no choice but to let it go out for a goal kick. On 62 minutes Thomas really should have wrapped up the points for Rovers when he opted to shot with the outside of his foot and blazed wide when he should have scored. It might seem odd to say ‘Wrapped up the points’; at this early stage, but we were never going to score twice. With time running out Wellens threw caution to the wind and sent on Pigott and Agyei. The latter in particular was causing some problems for the home defence, but Orient very rarely looked like scoring. In the third minute of stoppage time Orient got a free kick just outside the box. The ball was whipped in and after a good save by the keeper it cannoned off the unfortunate Crama and bounced into the top corner. However, there was still time for Orient to almost shoot themselves in the foot when some poor defending needed an excellent stop from Brynn to deny Marquis a winner, and then from the resulting corner Rovers headed against the crossbar.

On the balance of play I would a say a draw was a fair result, but it is blatantly obvious that we need to score more goals. We have scored fewer than one goal per game in the league, and it’s clear to see that whilst Pigott, Drinan and Sotiriou all have different strengths that they bring to the team, goalscoring isn’t one of them. Hopefully this is something that can be sorted out in the January transfer window.

Next up we have a tricky FA Cup tie away at Chesterfield, which the FA have helpfully shifted to the Sunday. See you there.