If I had told you on the 2nd December, with Orient sitting 21st in the table with just 15 points after 16 games, that in May I would be writing about us being in the playoffs you would have probably laughed. Or called me insane. Or both. Nevertheless – here we are. We headed to Stockport with honours even after what can only be called a questionable performance by the officials. The Kelman ‘offside’ incident, and the various penalty calls etc have already been done to death elsewhere, so I’ll leave it there.

Whilst most Orient fans headed for the designated away pub (The Nelson) we opted to drink in the same pub as last time (Superstitions and all that) which was The Wellington. It’s a quirky boozer but it’s definitely worth a visit.

This was my tenth visit to Edgeley Park, a ground that we have done well at in recent seasons (including an emphatic 4-1 win in September), although this was obviously the most important. We were housed in the same part of the ground as we were then, with a fair few more Orient fans making the journey.

The Starting XI was a much better one than the first leg, with the badly missed Currie and Brown coming back into the team. Before the game I commented that we would need a strong start to try and keep the home crowd quiet. It doesn’t get much stronger than Ollie O’Neill firing past Addai with your first attack! Cue bedlam in the away end. This immediately fired the hosts up as they started to ramp up the pressure with balls into the box. Donley and Touray both went into the book as the match turned physical, althugh Moxon somehow escaped punishment for a bad tackle on Clare. It was an intriguing first half with Stockport, and Horsfall in particular getting a lot of joy from set pieces which the Orient defence couldn’t cope with. Just before half time Orient almost doubled their lead but Kelman’s header hit the underside of the crossbar before bouncing to safety.

At half time I unfortunately missed a message over the PA which was kindly arranged by the Stockport supporting family of a dear friend who I recently lost. Hopefully Bill was looking down enjoying the scenes.

The second half saw Stockport ramp up the pressure as they looked for an equaliser. Brown and Beckles both went into the book, before Jack Currie produced probably the best bit of defending I have seen all season. Having gone down, he managed to get back up with a recovering tackle and to top it all off win the goal kick. That was to be his last action of the night as he then had to be replaced by Tom James. Shortly after Orient made another change with Williams replacing a tiring O’Neill. On 74 minutes however it was time for the tension to be turned up a few notches as Olaofe flicked home an equaliser for the hosts. Abdulai replaced Agyei, but it soon became apparent that this would be a case of Orient trying to hold on for extra time. With just one minute of stoppage time left to play Olaofe somehow spurned a golden chance to send Stockport to Wembley. Beckles misjudged a ball forward but Olaofe lost all composure and blazed over the bar.

The first half of extra time was, predictably, played at a slower pace. It was however Stockport who were piling on the pressure as the Orient backline held firm. The second half of extra time fell into the pattern of Stockport pushing forward, and Orient trying to catch them on the counter. The chances were arriving thick and fast for the hosts, with Horsfall, Moxon and Bailey all having chances. With Orient hanging on Keeley produced a superb save to deny Horsefall again, before a heart in mouth moment when Bailey struck the outside of the post in the 120th minute with Keeley well beaten.

Somehow Orient had got it through to penalties. Stockport fans will be left scratching their heads wondering how, but thats the price of not taking your chances. Both James and Norwood confidently scored the first penalty for each side before the night started to turn Orients way. With Clare having given us a 2-1 lead Keeley got down well to save from Jack Diamond. Then with Abdulai having scored his penalty Rydel saw his effort come off the inside of the post. This left Orient in the position of knowing that if Gailbrath scored we were off to Wembley. He did and, in keeping with our record of reaching the final every time we’ve qualified for the playoffs, we are.

The away end at this match was probably the best away end I have been in. The Orient fans didn’t stop singing all night, and the celebrations will live long in the memory. The two playoff games were really good games too, and in a lot of ways both of them would have made a fitting final. Now that it has all sunk in and the heart rate has come down a bit, focus now turns to a certain day at Wembley.

We couldn’t, could we?