It’s been a slightly strange couple of weeks with the postponement of the scheduled fixture at Port Vale due to international call-ups, and then us playing the rearranged Lincoln match at Brisbane Road last Tuesday evening.

Thinking back to the Oxford United match, I am sure I wasn’t alone in fearing the worst when the U’s made it 3-0 just two minutes after the halftime break. As hard as we had tried up to that point, we were simply facing a better and more experienced team. However rather than crumble and accept our fate, we fought back thanks to an own goal just a minute later, and then Ruel Sotiriou netting his seventh of the season just past the hour mark. Sadly we couldn’t find an equalizer and had to settle for being beaten but far from humbled.

Speaking after the match, gaffer Richie Wellens acknowledged that his team selection and game plan had been developed with the quality of the opposition in mind, stating: “We didn’t want to play [football] today, we thought that they had certain weaknesses where we could just play forward, dominate them physically, land on second balls, play forward again and really make it tough for them that way.”

I think most O’s supporters would agree that despite some of the better performances and results so far, we are still very much a work in progress at this level, especially against the very best teams in the division. The thing that was encouraging was the way that we kept fighting right to the very end, rather than capitulating as we seemed to do against Portsmouth back at the start of the season.

Last weekend only two of the planned League One fixtures went ahead the uncertainty over which might be postponed, and which might be still go ahead meant that supporters up and down the country either had to hold off on buying train tickets risking paying inflated prices or booking in advance and risking not being able to get a refund for tickets they no longer needed. I know only too well how annoying the too frequent international breaks are, but would it perhaps be in the better interest of fans to have these introduced at our level, rather than the situation we currently have? Mind you that would require the powers-that-be considering the interests of fans in the first place!

To fill in a Saturday afternoon without Orient-watching commitments, I headed off to Gander Green Lane to watch my “hometown team” Tranmere Rovers take on Sutton United, in a bottom of the table clash. Even though it seemed a bit strange being in an away end and not recognising and catching up with familiar travelling associates, it struck me just how similar football supporters are. It was only the different accent and club colours that helped you to identify where the fans were from.

It wasn’t exactly a classic game turning out to be a hard-fought but frustrating 1-1 draw for both sides, but for me it provided a reminder of just how much better the football in League One is than in the lower reaches of the fourth tier. One thing that won’t surprise any O’s fans, is that Harry Smith didn’t seem to do very much at all. Sadly (the Orient legend that is) Craig Clay was confined to a place on the bench, while Connor Wood played at left back for Rovers and Lee Angol made a very brief substitute appearance for the home side.

Ahead of the Lincoln game on Tuesday, I was hoping that the extended break might do the players some good, giving them an opportunity to rest up after what has been a pretty full-on start to the season. Especially as the Imps had been involved in one of the games that had gone ahead the previous weekend. Sadly that wasn’t to prove the case as we put in what a clearly disappointed Richie Wellens called: “a performance in terms of energy and appetite and dynamic play [that] was far from where we’ve been.” Maybe the break actually stifled our momentum instead of being beneficial?

I get that we were without long-term absentee Jordan Graham, while Theo Archibald was also injured and Jordan Brown was suspended, but we looked like a shadow of the team that we have seemed when we have been completely on our game. Defeat by Oxford was disappointing, but we can be proud of the way that the players tried to fight their way back into it right up to the end, the listlessness of Tuesday evening’s display was much more concerning.

Being forced to use more naturally defensive-minded players at wing-back in Rob Hunt and Jayden Sweeney deprived us of the width we need to be able to stretch defences, but it was the central midfield areas and forward line that largely failed to live up to expectations. Idris El Mizouni tried to drive us forward whenever he could get on the ball but found it difficult to find anyone ahead of him to link up with, whilst skipper Darren Pratley seemed to be off the pace somewhat.

I have no doubt touched upon this before, but personally I don’t think playing Ruel Sotiriou in the number 10 role suits us. We know he is capable of scoring goals but the ability with the ball at his feet either trying to beat defenders by dribbling, or linking play through incisive passing really isn’t in his game. For me the best use of him is as a central striker, just as he played at the tail end of last season, but it seems that Richie just does not want to utilise him in this way.

Which leads us onto our front pair. I think most Orient fans have cut Joe Pigott some slack, as we have been consistently told that playing as a target man doesn’t really suit his game, and while he does try to fulfil the role, he just isn’t making the impact in terms of providing a central focal point, or indeed finding the back of the net on a much more regular basis. The first half header that he managed to lift over the bar with the goal at his mercy against Lincoln being just the most recent example. It is probably true that he could benefit from better service, but can we really see him getting up towards the 10-15 goals a season mark, even as our seeming first choice penalty taker?

As difficult as Pigott seems to be finding it, what can we possibly say about what has gone wrong for Aaron Drinan? He was never the most clinical of finishers, even during the 2021/22 campaign when he netted 16 times in all competitions, but he is nowhere near even that level now. Of course there is the mitigation of two consecutive injury disrupted pre-seasons, but his contribution when he has been available over the last two campaigns has been minimal.

Personally I hoped that the goal against Carlisle in the cup would help to build his confidence, but for all the undoubted energy and effort the end product is sorely lacking. It may just be the case that we have no other options right now, but there is only so much time a player can be given to come good.

The more we struggle in front of goal, the better a player Dan Agyei seems to become in the minds of Orient fans. Obviously his achievements in a pretty average Crewe side last season are there for all to see, but it is inevitably going to take him time to get up to speed, longer to be fully match sharp, so we are going to have to exercise patience when he does return, and not put too much pressure on him to be our goal-scoring saviour. Even though we are still in November, rumours are already starting to emerge of us being in tussle with Charlton for highly rated young Tottenham forward Jamie Donley. As clear an indication as any on where those supposedly in-the-know see where we need to improve our squad.

Next up of course is Wigan Athletic at home tomorrow afternoon. The eight point deduction imposed on them, and their up and down form make it a difficult one to predict, however I think we all hope for a much better performance and more of a threat in front of goal. It is far too early to panic in any way, shape or form, but we do need to find some form again having not managed a win in the league since the trip to Carlisle half a dozen games ago.

Up the O’s!