Well that felt like a bit of a kick in the teeth didn’t it? After such a highly convincing performance and result against Cambridge just seven days previously, falling to defeat against a Stevenage side from whom we should have known exactly what to expect, was beyond frustrating.

We started the game positively enough and should have taken an early lead six minutes in, but Ruel Sotiriou’s effort after being played in by Shaq Forde came crashing back off the crossbar with only the keeper to beat. Given what was to come later, it is too much of a leap to suggest that if we had scored it would have changed the context of the match. However, it was another harsh lesson in how we need to take our chances when they arise at this higher level.

Midway through the opening period from a Stevenage free kick just outside our box, we seemed to switch off in our marking duties and McNeill was able to nick in at the near post ahead of Ethan Galbraith and Idris El Mizouni to flick it home. It stung because it seemed all too easy.

Our fate was pretty much sealed just before half-time when a corner from the right was headed forward for Dan Sweeney to nod home from close range. Once again the Orient resistance was minimal as confusion seemed to reign supreme. Nick Freeman’s volley from distance with 10 minutes to go merely capped off a thoroughly miserable afternoon in E10.

For me it wasn’t just the sloppiness of the first two goals that rankled, it was the way that a physically strong and robust Stevenage side imposed the way they wanted to play on the game, and we seemingly had little in the way of response. We all know how Steve Evans sets up his sides and the way they approach matches, it is in no way pretty but once again it certainly proved effective against us.

Speaking after the match, the gaffer was quick to assume responsibility for the performance and result, concluding: “I’ll take the blame…it’s really difficult when you have a performance like last week to change the team, and hindsight is obviously wonderful but I’ve been contemplating all week: do we need to go bigger, do we need to play Prats, do we maybe need to go with three at the back to add more size to us?”

A noble gesture no doubt to try to protect the players rather than throwing them under the proverbial bus, but Richie can’t have been happy with his charges and the collective performance that they put in. Maybe a bigger physical presence and a calm experienced head like the skipper might have made a difference, but as we are being shown all too often switching off defensively, especially from set pieces, is often fatal in League One.

The missus and I bumped into Matt Harrold on the Tube on the way back home after the match, and he suggested that not only had they been trying to drill the players all week in marking from set plays, but that Richie had kept them behind for two hours afterwards. I think the conclusion to be drawn is that the boss and coaching staff were just as unhappy as us the supporters.

That’s now four defeats from our opening six league matches, and while it is still way too early to panic, we are being taught some very harsh lessons about the standard that is required to compete at this level. As brilliant and exciting as the football we played against Cambridge was, for me we need to be more flexible in how we approach the different challenges that we are going face. Stylish attacking football is all well and good but sometimes you have to dig in and fight to get a result. Equally failing to take chances and defensive sloppiness are only going to cost us.

Tuesday evening saw us return to Priestfield the venue for that glorious evening back in April where we secured promotion despite having Omar Beckles sent off, losing the match and the floodlights going out, this time in the EFL Trophy / Pizza Cup. That match turned into the epitome of a game of two halves with us looking decent and going in a goal to the good, slightly fortuitously it has to be said, at the break. However the second half was ruined as any kind of contest when the O’s were, harshly as it seemed to me, reduced to nine men with two red cards in the space of three minutes.

Thankfully if reports are to be believed neither Shaq Forde nor Brandon Cooper will miss any league games as a result and given the status of the competition I doubt any of us will be losing too much sleep over the result. However the one thing that did strike me watching the first hour or so of the match, was that it is very difficult to name our absolute first choice starting line-up at the moment. The early season injuries, lack of match fitness, illness and poor form from some means that Richie and the coaching staff haven’t really had the chance to field the starting eleven that they had intended.

There are a few players that seem to be nailed on starters, if fit and available it would seem obvious that Sol Brynn, El Miz and Shaq Forde start, and it also seems as if Jordan Graham and Archie are first choice for the wide forward areas, for now at least, given the long-term injury to Dan Agyei. However looking further back who is the preferred number 10, Moncs or Ruel Sotiriou? Which of the other central midfielders: Prats, Jordan Brown, Ethan Galbraith or Max Sanders is best suited to playing alongside El Mizouni? Is Galbraith seen as a long-term option at right back/ wing-back? What is our best back four, or indeed five if we go with three centre backs again? Last season our first choice eleven pretty much picked itself, but having so many questions still to be answered may well explain some of our inconsistency so far.

Next up in the league is a trip to Devon to face top of the table Exeter which is followed by another tough-looking trip to Peterborough. Without veering too much into pessimism, it seems a big ask for us to take maximum points from either of those games, unless we can find a way to be more clinical at the top end of the pitch and much more secure at the back. Hopefully Stevenage will prove to be no more than a bad day at the office, and we can play much more like we did against Cambridge.

 Up the O’s!