exeter

Awaydays 25/26 – Blackpool 1-0 Orient

It seems like yesterday that I was writing about a disappointing start to the season at Huddersfield, yet here we are at the end of the season firmly entrenched in an unexpected relegation scrap. Our final trip of the season saw us head up to the Fylde Coast to face a Blackpool side who had hauled themselves out of trouble, but still needed a point to mathematically confirm safety. Blackpool and the surrounding areas are very familiar to me, as I spent a period of my life living and working in the area. This was fun when they beat us in the playoff final, although we tend not to speak about that!

What was the journey like?
We were in the fortunate position of having accrued enough Avanti points to get a first class return trip each, so we lived the ‘high life’ for once between London and Preston and back. Seeing as the actual fare would have been an eye watering £780 there is no way on earth I would be paying for that out of my own pocket. Anyway – if you’re arriving by train then Blackpool South is nearer the ground, but most trains go to Blackpool North (Which is around a 30 minute walk away)

What are the pubs like?
To get a proper taste of Blackpool we headed to Tommy Cutlers bar, which is around a 15 minute walk from the stadium. You get the whole Blackpool experience in here – Stag Parties, Drinks Offers, Kiss Me Quick hats etc. You can even have a Death Bomb (75%), which we tried but tasted very bitter (Cue ‘Suits You Well’ jokes).

What is the ground like?
The away end has been touched up a bit since we were last here. There is now a safe standing section in the corner, and the back of the stand has been covered so you no longer get a view of the gardens behind. The rest of the ground is unaltered from when it was redeveloped during their rise up the leagues.

What was the team?
The team was a lot stronger than it had looked of late, with the likes of Levitt and Connolly coming into the starting lineup. There was however once again a lack of ‘game changers’ on the bench.

First Half
Blackpool started the stronger of the two teams and but for some excellent goalkeeping from Will Dennis they would have been well ahead before this weeks edition of ‘Lets Shoot Ourselves In The Foot’ started. On 21 minutes Blackpool whipped a set piece into the box, and one needless drag to the floor by Simpson later they had a penalty. As is often the case when you are at the bottom luck deserts you, and it did again in this case as the resultant spot kick from Taylor rebounded off the post, hit Dennis and went in. You’d think this would wake a relegation threatened team up, but Blackpool were easily allowed to see out the rest of the half without being troubled.

Second Half
As has been the case umpteen times recently, Wellens did his ‘Sorry guys – I’ve picked the wrong team again’ with a halftime substitution (This time Abdulai replacing a completely ineffective Bakinson). Just four minutes into the half Orient carved out their best opportunity so far but Ballard uncharacteristically blazed it over the bar. As the half wore on the Orient players seemed to remember that a) They were in a football match and b) They were in a relegation scrap and started actually attacking the hosts. Koroma and Wellens Jnr (Got to get that appearance bonus in) replaced Mitchell and Levitt as Orient tried to get more on the front foot. There was time for two more substitutions, with Craig and Perkins replacing James and Clare, but there was an air of inevitability about how it was going to pan out. Orient piled on some late pressure with a few corners, but in truth never really looked like scoring. Again.

Summary
It was another case of not playing terribly, but having no attacking identity whatsoever apart from when Connolly got going and took people on. As is usually the case when a team is low on confidence there are a few players hiding and taking the ‘safe’ option of a sideways pass rather than a more risky one. Blackpool, like so many others recently, didn’t really have to do much to take the three points which is unforgivable in the situation we are in. Tensions were also rising high at the end of the match with not only Connolly being dragged away after being abused by some fans (Something I find bizarre given that he was one of our best players) and also fans clashing amongst themselves on the way out of the stadium.

Next Up
It’s do or die against Burton. We are still in the driving seat having a two point lead over Exeter, and a win will see us safe. A draw might even see us safe too if Exeter don’t win. However if Exeter beat Bradford and we don’t beat Burton then it’s League Two for us next season. Hopefully the next time I write an away day blog it’s from a League One ground rather than a League Two one. See you at the Burton match, and if I don’t then have a good summer and hopefully next season we will be heading to the likes of Leicester and Sheffield rather than Fleetwood and Crewe.

Awaydays 25/26 – Lincoln 2-1 Orient

Our penultimate away game of the season saw take on the champions elect Lincoln City. Usually one of the more anticipated trips of the season due to it being a fantastic city to visit, this one was curtailed slightly by Sky deciding to shove the game to an early kick off. Before I start the review of the day I just wanted to say congratulations to them on a deserved promotion. One in the eye for those that seem to think it’s impossible to be a success in this division on a low-ish budget.

What was the journey like?
There seems to be a period of LNER doing direct trains to Lincoln, followed by a period of them not and you having to change at Peterborough. Fortunately we are in a period where they are doing them, so it was an easy enough journey.

What are the pubs like?
There are some cracking pubs in Lincoln, but the aforementioned early kickoff put paid to visiting many of them before the game. We opted for the Witch & Wardrobe for it’s proximity to the station and the fact we had been there before.

What is the ground like?
Sincil Bank is a ground that could do with some modernisation on various fronts. Away fans get a part of a small stand behind the goal, from which the view is not the best. There is a very small stand in the centre on one side, and a decent sized stand along the other. The ground is completed by another small stand behind the goal opposite the away end. I’m a fan of grounds like this, and I prefer them to the modern ‘bowl’ type stadia, but it will be interesting to see what some Championship fans think when they rock up here next season.

What was the team?
It was a bit back to the bare bones again, with another raft of injuries cropping up recently. Someone really needs to look at our training facilities/methods as we keep going through this cycle every few months. For some inexplicable reason though, we decided to opt with the tried and failed ‘Back 5’ system, even though we had enough fit personnel to play with the 4 at the back that seems to suit us better.

First Half
It was a frantic opening start and Ballard carved himself out an early chance, but his effort curled just wide. Seconds later it was the turn of the hosts to come close when Darikwa did likewise. The hosts started to slowly build up the pressure, with their well drilled game plan of getting the ball forward quickly being very effective. It was no surprise when Moylan opened the scoring with one of those that looked like it was in as soon as he hit it. Orient chances were few and far between, although there was a bizarre booking for Simpson who stretched for a loose ball that he had every right to go for, but made contact with the keeper as he got there first. Heading into stoppage time we were to see a pivotal moment in the match. James fired a free kick over the wall which was spilled by the keeper, but no Orient player could get on the end of it. A couple of minutes later the earlier booking for Simpson was to come back and haunt us as, with Lincoln bursting into the box, he was unable to make a challenge for fear of a second yellow. This led to a low cross being turned into his own net by Forrester.

Second Half
Shortly into the second half there was a change in formation, as Perkins replaced Simpson and Orient reverted to 4 at the back. There was an immediate uptick in performance which led to Ballard getting one back with a diving header to connect with a ball in from El Mizouni. Lincoln looked fairly comfortable holding on to their lead, but Orient did put on some late pressure with Perkins seeing a header saved, followed by the bizarre incident where Dennis wanted to go up for a late corner, but the dugout were insisting he stayed back. They did however let him go up for the subsequent one, but this was to be the last action of the match as Forresters header was saved.

Summary
You don’t really expect to pick anything up away at a team that are looking to wrap up the title, but with pretty much every result going against us at the bottom (Although thankfully Plymouth got a very late draw at home to Exeter) the day turned out far from ideal. It was a bit disappointing that we went into the game so negatively though, as proven that we improved immeasurebly once we switched to 4 at the back early in the second half.

Next Up
We have two crucial home games against Mansfield and Rotherham before our final away trip of the season to Blackpool. If we can’t get enough points on the board from those two home games to be safe by the time we go to Blackpool then that game is set to be a very nervy one indeed. See you there.

Awaydays 25/26 – Exeter 0-0 Orient

We started off a busy two week period of fixtures with the trip down to Devon to face an Exeter side that had been in freefall since Gary Caldwell left for Wigan. On a personal note this visit was to take me up to 23, drawing level with Hartlepool as my most visited away ground.

What was the journey like?
After starting the morning on a glorious replacement bus to get into London, it was an easy 2 hour hop down to Exeter on GWR, although the less said about the price and the uncomfortable GWR seats the better.

What are the pubs like?
As we were on a later train than usual we opted to skip the usual town centre pubs, and headed for The Bowling Green which is a 5 minute walk from the ground. It’s a cracking little pub that has a real ale selection and good pizzas too.

What is the ground like?
The best part of St James’s Park is the ‘Big Bank’ terrace which I imagine would be a fantastic place to watch a match from. The rest of the ground is quite modern, with fairly new seated stands down the side and away fans mostly get the covered terrace behind the goal.

What was the team?
Given that Orient were going for 5 wins in a row, it’s no surprise that the only change to the starting lineup was Sean Clare starting ahead of the injured Tom James. With Josh Koroma still ‘MIA’ there was only really O’Neill on the bench that you could call a ‘Game Changer’ should things not be going well. This also meant a start for Demetri Mitchell on his return to his old club.

First Half
To be honest it was a complete snoozefest. It was a scrappy affair and the only real notable moments were Sean Clare only lasting 18 minutes before going off injured, his replacement Craig then getting hooked at half time and Wareham somehow spurning a glorious chance to give the hosts the lead. Ballard also missed Orient’s only real chance of the half when put through one-one-one with the keeper. There was also a stoppage in play for ‘Discriminatory Chanting’ from the away end. I personally didn’t hear anything that could be construed as such, other than the “Your dad is a ****” aimed at Jayden Wareham. I’ve heard numerous people saying the old ‘East London is Wonderful’ chant was to blame, but where I was stood I hadn’t heard that sung, so who knows.

Second Half
As mentioned earlier, Ma double substitution happened at half time with El Mizouni replacing Abdulai, and Happe replacing Craig who hadn’t even managed to see out half an hour of the match. Tne minutes into the half Orient though they had the lead, but the joy was short lived as Bakinson was adjudged to be offside when he guided the ball home. Orient, although improved from the first half, still struggled to create decent chances and despite a lot of efforts being blocked by a well drilled Exeter backline they didn’t really look like scoring. Dennis came to Orients rescue with a great save with his legs, but other than that it wasn’t a surprise that the game ended goalless. I believe Kenny Jackett was straight online ordering the DVD after the game.

Summary
It was a case of ‘Fair enough’ really. A result that was better than the performance against an Exeter side that were never going to just lay down despite their recent poor form. Neither team really did enough to win, and a draw was the right result in a game that definitely will not live long in the memory for fans of either side.

Next Up
The Easter fixtures are coming thick and fast, with a trip to Wigan, which I now can’t make thanks to them moving it to the Thursday, followed up by an Easter Monday home game against Huddersfield. Nest blog will be from Lincoln where in all likelihood we will be watching Lincoln celebrating promotion, and hopefully we will have enough points on board to be mathematically safe. See you there.

Orient Away 24/25 – Exeter

Our latest away trip was a visit back to a familiar haunt with a midweek journey down to Devon to take on Exeter City. Exeter are a team that we never seem to go too long without playing, and this was evident with this being my 22nd visit there with Orient.

Exeter is a cracking place to visit, and is reachable with frequent trains from Paddington. The more adventurous can go the Waterloo route which is usually cheaper but takes an hour longer. You’ll most likely arrive at St Davids station, which is around a mile from the town centre. There are frequent trains to Exeter Central though which is, as the name suggests, more handily placed for the town centre.

A midweek trip did give us a bit more time in town, and enabled us to visit a few pubs – The Mill On The Exe, The Prospect Inn and the White Hart in the town centre and the Bowling Green which was a few minutes walk from the ground. All of these are well worth a visit (Special mention to the food in the White Hart as it was superb). We did have one other pub on the list, the Bishops Blaize, but unfortunately it was closed.

Exeter are in a similar position to Orient in that they have pretty much expanded capacity as much as they can. The huge ‘Big Bank’ Terrace behind the goal is the centrepiece of the ground, and it is complemented by two decent new stands along the side. Away fans get a covered terrace behind the goal, which I believe used to be at The Hive in Barnet until Exeter took it on.

Again the team virtually picked itself amidst the injury crisis, with Kelman leading the line supported by new signings Markanday and Abdulai. Orient flew out of the blocks and raced into an early lead when Markanday found Abdulai who fired through a crowd into the bottom corner. The celebrations had barely finished when Orient found themselves 2-0 up. Jamie Donley chested the ball down and hit an audacious cross-field volley into the path of Abdulai, who was given the freedom of Exeter to slot home his second. Shortly after this Sean Clare curled an absolute beauty into the top corner as Orient went 3-0 up with not even 15 minutes played. After 34 minutes Markanday made it 4-0 when Exeter lost possession trying to play out from the back, and he also found himself in acres of space with the simplest of finishes in front of him.

Exeter came out for the second half and had obviously got a bit of the hairdryer treatment as they quickly got two goals back in quick succession. Both goals were pretty much carbon copies of each other as the Orient defence couldn’t cope with the physical presence of Alli as he headed home two crosses. In days gone by it would have been ‘Typical Orient’ to collapse at this point. However, as we’ve seen on numerous times this season, this is no ‘typical Orient’ team. They rode out the storm of an Exeter team that had worked up a head of steam, before Abdulai steered a cross into the bottom corner to make it 5-2. Just as you thought the game would just fizzle out, Jamie Donley popped up to Volley home an outrageous effort that he really had no right to score from. This wrapped up a remarkable 6-2 scoreline, which I believe is a first for me in over 1500 matches attended.

Results elsewhere meant that we finished the night in the playoff places, which is unbelievable when you consider just two short months previous a defeat to Huddersfield left Orient in the relegation zone. We’ve got a huge February in front of us. We play a lot of teams that are pushing for the playoff places, as well as a certain cup tie which nobody seems to fussed about. See you there.