Well doesn’t that feel a whole lot better! While it’s still very early days in the 2023/24 season, Orient’s 2-0 win over Cambridge United last Saturday felt more important than simply securing our first win and first three points of the fledgling campaign. While I wasn’t necessarily worried per se about how we were adjusting to life in the third tier, as touched upon last week (Orient Nerd Weekly Ramblings- A Small Step in the Right Direction for Orient) it felt as if things were going against us a little bit, and to lay down a marker in the manner that we did was a timely tonic for the squad, coaching staff and fanbase alike.

Let us not forget that going into the game Cambridge were top of the table, if only on goal difference, having won three out of their opening four matches, and their fans wasted no time in pointing out the difference in our relative league positions prior to kick-off. The way we started the game very much on the front foot and pretty much controlled things right from the off showed real purpose and intent.

It no doubt helped that we were able to call on more of our new recruits with Sol Brynn returning after his injury scare and Jordan Graham and Shaq Forde starting up front for the first time in the league. Graham operating down the left hand side balanced well with Archie returning to his inverted right wing role, both of them were very lively right from the first whistle and they really helped us to force Cambridge onto the back foot immediately. Forde showed the power, pace, and impetus that he hinted at in his brief cameo at Blackpool, and his goal just before the half hour mark: slotting home from close range after Graham’s effort had been blocked, showed a real poacher’s instinct, the sort of goal we didn’t seem to score many of last season.

Ethan Galbraith might have been deployed in a less familiar full back role for the second match in a row, but his quality as a footballer was evident in everything that he did. Once Rob Hunt and Jayden Sweeney are back, I am convinced he will flourish in his more suited attacking-focused midfield position.

The match was settled as contest (if it ever truly was one?) when Theo fired home early in the second period after being played through brilliantly by Tom James with a superb, clipped ball over the top from a free kick just inside our half. In all truth we could, and perhaps should have scored more: Theo rattled the crossbar in the first half and then saw a cross come shot clip the post in the second, TJ went close with a couple of efforts from distance, and we had a number of other decent chances. Still you can’t argue with a dominant performance that saw us have 69% of the possession, with a fair share of that in the U’s half, and 16 shots in total.

Speaking after the match and understandably buzzing with the impressive performance Richie Wellens suggested: “At times I thought that was brilliant entertainment as well as a real good result, I thought we were exceptional.” I doubt any Orient fan would disagree with that, it felt like a real statement performance and win. Cambridge manager Mark Bonner complemented our performance highlighting in particular the way that Idris El Mizouni (who of course had two previous loan spells at the Abbey Stadium) “ran the show”.

As good as that performance and victory were of course we can’t get carried away in any way, as next up it is our old “friends” Stevenage, who we have to begrudgingly admit have made a decent start to life in League One: having won three and drawn one of their opening five matches and currently sitting in fifth place in the early table. Based on the evidence of our meetings last season, I think we all know what to expect from Steve Evans and his side: they will undoubtedly look to stifle our football, make the game physical and robust and probably won’t afford us the space in behind that we exploited so well against Cambridge. They are also likely to test our newly tightened up rearguard with a more direct approach and a threat from set-pieces.

Having said that though, now that Richie is at last able to deploy his side the way he wants to and the boost the players will have received from an impressive win playing really good football, we should go into it with plenty of confidence and intent. Another good performance and result would really help us to build on the momentum that we have generated from our last two matches.

Off the pitch a comment that Chairman Nigel Travis made in an interview with the Orient Outlook podcast has stirred quite a bit of consternation amongst match-going fans. At the end of the interview after some questions about the decision to categorise match ticket prices for this campaign, a potential stadium move or redevelopment of the East Stand and working to become more financially sustainable, Nigel rounded off by suggesting: “I think we’ve got to encourage everyone to do what they can. I think a lot of us have tried to do our very best by putting our hand in our pocket. I’d encourage people, for one, to get to the stadium early. I mean, the Coach & Horses and the other restaurants are competitors. And I hear people say to us about our prices – understand that – but you’ve got to recognise that you go in there and you’re taking money away from Leyton Orient.” 

We of course should never forget what Nigel, Kent and the rest of the board and investors have done and continue to do for our club, how they have backed the manager(s) and have endured ongoing losses, (and a global pandemic that first shut football down and then saw a full season played behind closed doors, lest we forget). However coming on the back of increases in the prices of season cards, the capping of season card numbers, the decision to categorise matches, and the restricting of access to The Gallery after the match, it is also understandable why his comments have stuck in the craw of so many of us.

It is a very tricky balance to strike of course between generating income to invest in and develop the club, while retaining the supporter-focused, friendly, and welcoming atmosphere that is such a selling point of our beloved O’s. Equally, as I am sure such astute business people are completely aware, if you want to try to entice people away from other “competitors” you have to ensure that your offer is more attractive than theirs. If the club want us to get to the ground earlier, then they have to give us a reason to do so. The Supporters Club, Coach & Horses et al seem to have little problem in attracting people through their respective doors several hours before kick-off.

While Orient remains a true fan-based, accessible club that is still miles away from the money-fleecing approach of the Premier League and US Sports, these recent developments have started to spread a small sneaking suspicion that the way we supporters (not customers or guests!) are seen by those at the helm might be starting to change to a slight degree. Food for thought as they say, (with no apologies whatsoever for the rather lazy pun!).

 Up the O’s!