After a very emotional week for the Orient family, I do think the club did all that they could to commemorate the life of Derek Reynolds: the lifelong O’s supporter who so tragically passed away at the previous home game just four days before. I am sure I wasn’t alone in having a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye when walking up to the ground on Saturday afternoon, signing Derek’s condolence book, seeing his family on the pitch and most especially when I saw the floral tribute in his seat just below us in the East Stand.

It was absolutely fantastic the way that our wonderful Supporters Club raised a sum of more than £1000 through a collection which will be split between two charities that were close to Derek’s family: 90% to the Justin Edinburgh 3 Foundation and 10% to Cats Protection Waltham Forest.

We even got a last minute winner to see off the challenge of a struggling but stubborn Reading side, and it just made you wonder what Derek would have made of it. Hopefully the lads did him proud. It certainly sent the majority of the 8,600+ crowd away happy having bounced back from that disappointing result up on the Lancashire coast the previous week.

Speaking of the performance at Fleetwood, one that Richie described as a “wasted three points”, I think the most galling aspect for me was that we should have done enough in the opening 20 minutes to have put the game against a struggling side to bed. Instead, missed chances and a blunt-looking attack ensured that we conspired to let our hosts off the hook. When Fleetwood took the lead we didn’t seem capable of mustering enough in the way of a response to dig a result out for ourselves. It really did feel like an opportunity spurned to build on the momentum that we had built through winning two and drawing the other of our previous three matches.    

As always after a disappointing result the key thing is how the team responds, and I thought there were some very encouraging signs in the way we started the Lincoln game. Omar Beckles’ injury and Ethan Galbraith’s suspension meant that we went with something of a rejigged side to start that match, and it really seemed to work. It felt as if we had learned from what went wrong at Fleetwood and were determined to play with a greater impetus and incisiveness, something that the gaffer had called for in his comments prior to the match. The combination between Rob Hunt and Max Sanders down the right flank and Theo Archibald’s crossing from the left combined to give us much more of an attacking threat, and of course it helped Joe Pigott to find the net for the second time this campaign, although sadly for him it most likely won’t count.  

At the time of posting this we are still waiting for a decision (surprise surprise!) by the EFL on whether the game will need to be replayed in full. I think most people would accept this is the only really fair way to resolve the situation. So why has it taken the powers that be ten full days to still not be able to reach the obvious decision?  

It was more of the same for the first half hour or so against Reading last Saturday and we found the breakthrough thanks to a rocket of a shot from the impressive Jordan Brown. Sadly, when Sanders had to leave the pitch with an injury our intensity seemed to drop to an extent and Reading managed to scramble an equalizer. Tyler Bindon reacting quickest to a header that rebounded off the upright to prod the ball past Sol Brynn.

The triple substitution with just over 20 minutes to go which saw Aaron Drinan, Jordan Graham and Tom James replace Joe Pigott, Rob Hunt and Dan Happe seemed to help us to reseize the initiative. However we did have to wait all the way to the final minute of normal time to snatch the winner: George Moncur bundling home a loose ball from a corner.

Since that humbling defeat at home to old foes Stevenage we have collected 10 points from an available 15 (the Lincoln game not included) which, as galling as the defeat at Fleetwood was, is pretty solid form.

I suggested a couple of weeks ago (Orient Nerd Weekly Ramblings- Orient tough out a win at home and continue to build on their momentum.) that we were both starting to find our feet at this level and also that our first choice line-up was starting to emerge. The introduction of Brandon Cooper as part of a back three has helped to strengthen our rearguard for the most part and he has added a real tenacious quality to us. Whilst players like Jordan Brown, Rob Hunt and Max Sanders, before unluckily being injured, have started to give Richie some choices in the way he sets out his team. That is without even mentioning Ethan Galbraith who seemed to be very much knocking on the door for a starting berth prior to his (dubious?) red card at Fleetwood.

Up front it feels like there still seems to be a little bit of uncertainty around how we set up. As hard as Joe Pigott is trying to make the number 9 role work, his low chance conversion rate is something of a frustration, while Aaron Drinan seems to be severely lacking in confidence in front of goal. Ruel Sotiriou is our leading goalscorer with four goals to his name, but many of us wonder if he is best suited to the nominal wide role he is playing or whether he would be more effective playing centrally?

While it has suited us to use Theo Archibald and Jordan Graham as wing backs, it does feel to me that they are both better suited to playing as traditional wingers from their more natural sides, that way they can stretch the defence and get the crosses into the box which they are both so effective at. Especially as we have full backs/ wing backs of the calibre of Tom James, Rob Hunt, and Jayden Sweeney.  I guess over the next few weeks we might start to see the preferred set up emerge, but it really does feel as if, the odd blip aside, we are moving in the right direction.

Next up of course is the long trip to Carlisle tomorrow, which for some reason always feels like a tough trip, if only because of the sheer distance involved.  In reality however we have had decent enough results there on the last two visits, and even though they were promoted via the play-offs the Cumbrians finished 15 points behind us last term. They will of course be buoyed up by their highly impressive win at Bolton last weekend, but we are on a decent run and should be looking to put in a performance and get a result there. Here’s hoping!

Up the O’s!