February 2024

February got underway with a comfortable 3-2 win at home over Carlisle, a late penalty for the visitors making the game seem much closer than it had been in reality. The O’s dominance was better reflected in the fact that we enjoyed 58% possession and had a total of 17 shots on goal.

Next up was the rearranged trip to Burslem/Stoke to take on Port Vale on a rainy Tuesday night. Probably as the result of the match having to be rearranged, and with the big trip to Barnsley coming up on the Saturday, only just over 200 Orient fans made the trip. Although our numbers were somewhat increased by the attendance of several members of the Wellens family and Jordan Brown’s dad and a number of friends. It was a hard-fought encounter which was finally settled by an Idris El Mizouni strike on the hour mark. It was far from pretty but once again we had found a way to get the job done.

The trip to Oakwell while not being the ultimate terminal blow to our play-off aspirations, certainly dented them. It had all started so brightly with Ruel Sotiriou opening the scoring after just 10 minutes. Just for a moment the Orient faithful were starting to believe that another big away win at one of the stronger teams in the division might be on the cards, just like at Portsmouth the previous month. However just four minutes later Dan Happe had to leave the field with an injury that effectively ended his season other than a cameo right at the very end.

For the rest of the game we were under pressure but just about holding on until with two minutes to go Adam Phillips beat Sol Brynn to a ball into the box and equalised for the home side. Then in the fifth minute of added time, Phillips did it again winning the game for Barnsley and breaking Orient hearts. It was a cruel blow and one that was hard to take, having come so close.

We bounced back to winning ways immediately the following Tuesday evening, finally seeing off Northampton in a rollercoaster of a match.  Due to ineffective diary management, the missus had organised a catch-up with some former work colleagues and therefore missed probably the most exciting game of the whole campaign.

Orient opened the scoring just past the half hour mark when an offside-looking Jordan Brown astutely left Ollie O’Neill’s effort well alone and it found its way into the net. Northampton drew themselves level in added time at the end of the first half through Marc Leonard, but It was in the second half that the excitement really started.

Shaq Forde put us back in front following up an O’Neill strike after it had been pushed away by the keeper. Then with less than quarter of an hour to go Kieron Bowie equalized for the Cobblers until just three minutes later Ruel Sotiriou restored our lead: nodding home an O’Neill cross from close range.  Three minutes later Tyreece Simpson won the ball in our penalty area, turned and rifled home for 3-3.

As we headed into injury time, I think most O’s fans had resigned themselves to having to settle for a draw. Then in the seventh additional minute Ethan Galbraith won a header, that his size probably dictated he should have never had a chance of winning, on the edge of their box, Brandon Cooper lobbed it over the top for Sotiriou to fire home low on the volley. There was pandemonium all around our famous old ground, it was one of those games where you simply had to be there. A fact that I took absolutely no pleasure (honest I didn’t!) in pointing out to the better half when I got back home.

After all the drama and excitement of the previous Tuesday, the loss at home to Burton the following Saturday felt like a bit of a come down. It started ok with a successful George Moncur penalty just before the half-time break, but two late goals sealed all three points for the visitors.

As a result of that defeat, and the ever lengthening injury list, it is probably fair to say that there wasn’t a huge amount of confidence going into the away game at Oxford the following week. The pessimism only increased when after making a decent start to the match we fell behind to a goal by Tyler Goodman 20 minutes in. However the response from the O’s was highly encouraging. Just six minutes into the second half the hugely impressive Ollie O’Neill brought us level- firing home left-footed after some intricate quick passing football on the edge of the Oxford penalty area.

We then sealed all three points as we entered the final quarter of an hour when a seemingly revitalised George Moncur, cut inside from the left, worked space for himself and rifled home a beauty, sending the 1000-plus travelling O’s fans into delirium.

Next up was a rearranged match against fellow top-six hopefuls Blackpool on a Tuesday evening, it was another opportunity for the missus and me to sample the club’s corporate hospitality facilities, we just hoped the experience would be much more positive than the defeat by Derby just before Christmas. An encounter in which both teams largely cancelled each other out was settled by another goal from Ollie O’Neill, the contribution that he was making since joining in January was scarcely credible for such a young player.

March 2024

As we moved into March, our up and down form of recent weeks continued as we were beaten at home by Bristol Rovers. A Chris Martin goal half an hour in opened the scoring, and we could muster little in the way of response.

Next was a trip to familiar territory for yours truly as we headed to the North West to take on Wigan. Despite starting the match very much on the front foot, the game changed completely just before half-time when Ethan Galbraith picked up two yellow cards in the space of just 13 minutes, the second for a high boot seemed sadly completely justified.

From there it was a case of trying to hold out for as long as we could, a fact that was reflected in gaffer Richie Wellens’ substitutions. We managed to stay in the game until Jason Kerr nodded the Latics in front with just over quarter of an hour remaining, sadly you just knew that we weren’t going to be able to get ourselves back into it, and we had to settle for another disappointing defeat.

That loss was followed by a frustrating goalless draw with relegation-bound Port Vale the following Tuesday evening, before we headed off on every Orient fan’s “favourite”(sic) awayday to Stevenage. Most likely as a result of being humbled by Stevenage in our two previous encounters, it seemed lessons had been learned, and even though it went completely against his footballing principles Richie Wellens sent out his side with the clear aim of matching Stevenage physically.

Even though it was a far from attractive game of football, we did exactly what we set out to do much to the annoyance of the home side’s bench and the majority of their supporters. Max Sanders’ first goal for the club on 16 minutes gave us hope, but when Jamie Reid’s effort was ruled out 8 minutes later for what seemed a generous handball decision, it started to feel like it might just be our day.

We still had to battle all the way through to the end, Darren Pratley and Omar Beckles in particular showed the grit, determination, and leadership that we needed, and we managed to hold on for an unexpected but very welcome win.

Of course, after the match Richie managed to wind up their players and fans with his celebrations, with Dan Sweeney in particular taking umbrage. I should be grown up enough to be critical of our boss here but given who it was against and some of their manager’s antics, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it!

We rounded off the month with a Good Friday trip to Lincoln. For some unexplained reason the missus had booked us on a very early train which meant that we rocked up in the very pleasant city before the pubs had even opened.

Going into the game Lincoln had racked up 16 goals while conceding only once in their previous three matches, so it felt like something of a daunting task. However it was clear from gaffer Richie Wellens’ pre-match comments and the way we set up with all three of Darren Pratley, Jordan Brown and Idris El Mizouni being deployed in the centre of the park, that our intention was to not let them dictate the game.

For the most part it worked, and chances were at a premium throughout the first half although it was Orient who worked Lukas Jensen in the Lincoln goal more than the home side troubled Sol Brynn in ours.

The second half carried on in very much the same vein, Ollie O’Neill went close for the O’s with a header and Ethan Galbraith forced another save from Jensen with a stinging low drive on the volley. Then right at the death Jordan Brown dwelled too long in trying to clear a ball from his own goal line, was dispossessed by Jovon Makama who drove into the area and fired across Brynn and into the far corner. It was a bitter pill to swallow as for me we deserved at least a point. For me, sadly, that was where any slight hope of finishing in the top six was over.

April 2024

We hosted Peterborough on Easter Monday, to be honest after the unlucky loss at Lincoln, going into the match it all felt a bit after the Lord Mayor’s Show. Two goals in the opening half an hour, the first from Hector Kyprianou (surprise surprise!) and the second from Ephron Mason-Clark pretty much sealed the win for the Posh. A stunning volley on the run from Ethan Galbraith midway through the second half gave us a brief flicker of hope but the damage had been done in the first half.

The following Saturday we breezed past a Cheltenham Town side who at the time were struggling for survival, in vain as it would turn out. The visitors offered little resistance and the most notable part of the game was probably the quality of the three goals that we netted. The first was a rocket of a strike from Ethan Galbraith from the edge of the area, the second an Ollie O’Neill “special” a curling effort that nestled into the far corner, the third may have even been the pick of the lot: a drive from Ruel Sotiriou from 25 yards out.

In our final midweek game of the season we conspired to let a two goal lead slip at home to Exeter City thanks to goals in the 88^th and 92^nd minutes. Given that there was little to play for in terms of final league position, I personally found it difficult to be too annoyed about it. 

On the Saturday we headed up to Derby for our penultimate away game of the season and the last of the much-anticipated away days for the travelling O’s faithful. It was to prove something of a non-event for Orient as we found ourselves 2-0 down with less than 20 minutes on the clock, both goals coming from corners that we didn’t really deal with. The Rams compounded our disappointment and made it 3-0 (yep you guessed it another goal from a corner!) four minutes from time.

Our final home game of the season saw us fall to a 1-0 defeat to lowly Fleetwood Town thanks to a goal in added time, which took some of the gloss off the lap of appreciation at the end of the match. Despite the three points Fleetwood couldn’t escape the drop and returned to the fourth tier after an impressive nine year stay in League One.

The final match of the season saw us head to Shrewsbury, the 12:30 kick-off (cheers EFL!) meaning it was a very early start for all those travelling up on the day. Despite the match being essentially a dead rubber, we made easy work of it: first half goals from Dan Adu-Adjei his first (and only?) one for the club and Ethan Galbraith, and a brilliant run and finish by Dan Agyei five minutes into the second period ensured the party atmosphere in the away end was the main focus of attention for the rest of the match. A late consolation for Shrewsbury from Daniel Udoh did little to dampen the spirits and we rounded off the season with a satisfying victory.

It would be easy to point to our difficult start, all the injuries we suffered over the course of the season, and our patchy form after the amazing run either side of Christmas, and to suggest that it had been a slight disappointment that we couldn’t push on and qualify for the play-offs. However it is important to remember that this season was always all about consolidation in League 1, and there is no question whatsoever that we have achieved that. Besides, as welcome as it would have been, can we truly say that we were ready for a tilt at promotion?

We have an evolving, relatively young, squad and with some astute additions and a cleaner bill of health in 2024/25 there is every reason to have grounds for optimism for what we might achieve next term. I for one can’t wait to see how a front line of Jordan Graham- Dan Agyei- Ollie O’Neill/ Theo Archibald, supported by new Northern Ireland international call-up Ethan Galbraith torment opposition defences next season.

The news that Richie has signed a new contract and is looking to move down South with his family, can only be music to the ears of all Orient fans. We had a brief taste of just what we might be capable of as we continue to develop, and I am counting down the days until the announcement of the fixtures next month and the opening weekend in the middle of August (whenever and wherever our first game will be thanks to the new Sky TV contract!).

Before signing off for this season I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has read, liked, commented and shared these regular musings, it is truly a labour of love and a real pleasure.

I also wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has bought a copy of my book (You don’t choose your football club, it finds you: A season rediscovering the true soul of football fandom: Amazon.co.uk: Platt, Gareth: 9798875690716: Books), if you haven’t had chance to purchase one yet and would like to it is still available on Amazon UK (simply follow the link above) and there are a limited number behind the bar in the Supporters Club when the season starts again, all proceeds to be donated to the Justin Edinburgh JE3 Foundation.

It has been a hugely enjoyable season, the missus and I are off to Germany for the Euros in a couple of weeks, normal service will be resumed after the trip to Edinburgh for the hugely anticipated friendly against Hearts. Until then, enjoy the summer and…Up the O’s!