Two draws in four days on the one hand represents a further step towards consolidating our position in League One; but on the other it feels, the result at Northampton in particular, like an opportunity to push further up the table squandered. 

Being totally honest, I went into the Barnsley game with a slight nagging feeling of trepidation. I am sure I wasn’t alone. As well as the O’s had been performing over the previous nine matches, I was just slightly concerned that facing one of the division’s bigger clubs we might struggle to impose ourselves on the game, just as we had against Portsmouth at the start of the season.

As it turned out we didn’t have a lot to worry about, as we proved to actually be a match for a Barnsley team that was on a run of five consecutive away victories. It could even be argued that it was us that should be more disappointed with a point than our more established visitors. If the award of the penalty was admittedly slightly fortuitous, once Joe Pigott converted it for his second goal of the season, the one goal lead felt like just deserts for the way that we had started the match.

As cruel as it felt to be pegged back with just over 20 minutes to go, Herbie Kane’s strike was special, a worldie even, and there was little that Sol Brynn in our goal could do about it. There was perhaps an argument that we could have closed Kane down more effectively and prevented him getting his shot away, but equally we could have perhaps put ourselves further ahead before then. In the end it felt as if a point a piece was a fair result for an entertaining game between two well-matched teams. From an Orient perspective it felt as if we had proven our ability to compete with one of the better teams in the division.

By contrast, the draw at Northampton felt more like we were caught out (again?) in a match that we were seemingly (just about) in control of at half-time. If Barnsley are one of the benchmark teams to measure ourselves against, we should have known exactly what to expect from a Northampton side who were promoted in third place, eight points behind us at the end of last season.

We didn’t start the match on Tuesday evening especially convincingly but after a dodgy opening five minutes or so, we seemed to settle into our rhythm and football more effectively. Rob Hunt’s strike after 14 minutes may have owed a bit to poor goalkeeping, but it helped us to gain more of control of the game and most of the travelling faithful seemed to be fairly happy going in at the break a goal to the good.  

However what gaffer Richie Wellens described as “a wacky five minutes” at the start of the second half saw the match turned completely on its head. First Ethan Galbraith naively gave the ball away in their half, they hooked it up their right hand side, an area where we had seemed a bit exposed from the start, which set away Sam Hoskins to take on Rob Hunt one-on-one. Hunt tried his best to get in the way, but Hoskins’ effort deflected off him and looped over Sol Brynn and into the net.

Then, just three minutes later Jordan Graham, playing at left wing-back, lunged desperately to try to get to the ball before Akin Odimayo, but succeeded only in bringing down the Cobblers man. Hoskins of course despatched the penalty and we were 2-1 down after just seven minutes of the second period. I am sure the gaffer had his reasons for changing the team from Saturday, he explained after the match that Archie and Joe Pigott needed a bit of a breather, but for me the decision to play Graham on the left with Rob Hunt, who we have seen is more than capable of playing on either flank, deployed on the right left us unnecessarily exposed down Graham’s side.

Rather hilariously, just a few minutes later Kieron Bowie, who had been trying to wind up the travelling O’s fans from the moment Northampton took the lead, was shown a straight red card for an offence that no one in the ground other than the officials seemed to spot, which gave the O’s the impetus they needed to get back into the match. We made hard work of it though, missed a couple of gilt-edged chances and Pigott, on as a sub, had a goal ruled out for an alleged handball, but finally in the 6th minute of added time Shaq Forde bundled home a Graham cross from the left to salvage a point.

Two draws but two very different feelings. If the result at home against Barnsley felt like a demonstration of our ability to compete with the teams at the top end of the table, having to scramble our way to a draw against a relatively ordinary Northampton side, especially after taking an early lead, felt frustrating.

On the train on the way back to London I was trying to get my head around why we had seen two contrasting performances with essentially the same set-up formation-wise? Speaking after the match at Sixfields, Richie suggested: “These players, this group excite me, but we also have to understand that these are young players making their way in the game and they are going to make mistakes.”

For me there were certainly clear errors that led to both of Northampton’s goals, but more concerning is that we seem to struggle to put teams away when we have them on the back foot. Errors are a natural part of football, and not just for young players, experienced players get it wrong too; on Tuesday what stood out the most was the way that we struggled to put Northampton to the sword when we had a one man advantage for the best part of 35 mins, more including added time.  

The switch to a back three righted the ship after those opening trio of defeats, but we have only managed 14 goals in our 14 league matches to date, that places us 16th across the division. Obviously the injury to Dan Agyei before the season even started threw our attacking plans off kilter, but should we be expecting more from those who are available?

Ruel Sotiriou leads the way in terms of goals scored with five, and some of those have been very important, but we also know that he tends to be somewhat profligate in his finishing. Joe Pigott has tried manfully to fit into the number 9 role but so far he has managed just one goal from open play and one penalty, although in fairness he did score against Lincoln in the game that so tragically had to be abandoned. Whilst the injuries to Aaron Drinan have made him look like a shadow of the player that netted 16 times in all competitions in 2021/22. Shaq Forde looks like the most natural finisher of those available, but perhaps is too raw for a starting berth, while Archie and Jordan Graham are currently being deployed as wing-backs with the remit of supplying the ammunition for those in the middle of the park.

In that interview on Tuesday night Richie suggested that his ambitions are towards the higher echelons of the table, to get there we will need to find a way of converting draws into wins and finding the back of the net more often would undoubtedly help with that.

Next up of course is a trip to Staffordshire to face Burton Albion and a new ground for travelling Orient fans. After something of a poor start to the season, the Brewers have reeled off five wins and two draws in their last eight matches and now sit on 19 points just as we do. It feels like another challenging task ahead, another one that may well be decided by keeping things tight at the back while creating more of an attacking threat. If we can do that it would be another step forward in where we want to go.

Up the O’s!