Last week we pondered two differing home defeats (Orient Nerd Weekly Ramblings- Two contrasting defeats but plenty of food for thought for Richie Wellens.), this week we’ve got two slightly contrasting draws to consider, one at Brisbane Road and the other on our travels on a cold night in Bristol.

Starting with the draw at home to Wigan last Saturday, it was interesting that the gaffer opted to put his faith in Shaq Forde to play as the central striker flanked by Ruel Sotiriou and Joe Pigott in a front three. It paid off, and relatively early, when the young Watford loanee gave us the lead with a stunning strike from the edge of the box after being teed up by Sotiriou. Although of course it is important to remember that we could have been behind very early on if Wigan’s Stephen Humphrys hadn’t fluffed his lines from the penalty spot after Sol Brynn had upended Sean Clare in the opening minute.  

Sadly we couldn’t hold the lead until the break, Humphrys making amends with a low drive two minutes into added time at the end of the first half that found the bottom corner. Perhaps the kindest thing that could be said about our defending was that it was somewhat statuesque.

As hard as both teams worked in the second half, there was little in the way of goalmouth threat and the game drifted towards an inevitable-seeming share of the spoils. The one bright spot in the second half for Orient fans starved of goals recently, was a brief cameo for Dan Agyei towards the very end of the match.

As frustrating as it is to drop points at home, we have to bear in mind that for all their financial issues Wigan were in the Championship last season, and but for their eight point deduction this term they would be on the verge of the playoff places.  

Speaking after the match, the gaffer reflected on a fairly decent result against “a really big club at this level”. Although he also expressed his frustration that we couldn’t push on and win the game. As has been said many times previously, the mission for this season is stability in the third tier and competing against the stronger sides bodes well.

In contrast, the performance and ultimately the result on Tuesday evening at the Memorial Stadium was more frustrating than encouraging. Once again, Forde was trusted with the central striking role, this time with Theo Archibald and Aaron Drinan operating from the wings and Ruel Sotiriou deployed in support. We also saw the return to a more traditional back four with Brandon Cooper being the man to make way, something the gaffer admitted that he had been wanting to do for quite some time.

We very much had the lion’s share of possession in the opening 45 minutes but did little with it. A combination of poor passing from his teammates and Forde himself straying offside too frequently, meant that we lacked any real threat to Rovers’ goal. We also lost first Tom James and then Aaron Drinan to injury.

Then, once again, we went behind to a goal in stoppage time before the break, which was both annoying and worrying given our bluntness up front. When one of the awayday regulars, Barri, asked me how I would summarise the performance up to halftime, I could only reply that: “Toothless in attack and shaky at the back” (to paraphrase the gaffer’s song) was all I had so far.

We started the second half with a bit more impetus, especially down the left wing where Theo definitely had the beating of his opponent. I have to admit I lost count of the number of crosses and corners from that side that were pumped into the goalmouth only to not find an Orient man. Was it a case of poor deliveries or more that we didn’t have enough presence where it mattered? Probably a little from column A and a lot from column B.

Dan Agyei replaced Shaq Forde on 75 minutes and once again went straight in as centre forward. His power, direct approach and dribbling ability seemed to give us more attacking impetus, although we still couldn’t find the all-important breakthrough. I realise we have to be patient as Agyei builds his way back up to fitness and match sharpness, but I found it interesting that Richie seems to see him operating through the middle rather than from a wide position. Maybe there is hope for more goals in the second half of the season after all.

Finally, three minutes into added time, from a free kick out on the right Theo curled a decent ball into the area, Jordan Brown powered a header towards goal but saw it saved only for it then to rebound off a Bristol Rovers defender and in off the underside of the crossbar.

In the final minutes Sol Brynn made a decent save to keep us in it, and then Rovers wasted an inviting opportunity hitting the crossbar. It certainly wasn’t pretty against a relatively poor Bristol Rovers side, but it felt like a point was merited given the way we stuck to our task throughout the second period.

A point’s a point as they say, but that now makes it a run of seven games without a win in the league, only the two defeats but drawing five of them explains a level of frustration. Richie himself said: “We’ve not won enough games in the last five or six, but I see a developing team that once we do start to impact the goal more…I see a lot of positives, we keep going, we keep improving.”

Taking the season so far as a whole, it feels like we have acquitted ourselves fairly well after a tough start, but I can’t be alone in perhaps expecting a little bit more. If we had more goals in us as a team and can start turning some of our draws into wins, that would really start to help us to climb the table. Dan Agyei looks very much like he might play a key role with that, but as Richie openly admitted we need a couple of players in as we are a little short of bodies, especially in attacking areas.

Next up of course is a cup away day at Chesterfield (weather permitting!), as Richie hinted to Dulcet Dave, a good cup run might well help with the finances for investment in January. After that there are two potentially very big games looming on the horizon: the visit of Derby County to E10, and then after our trip to Cheltenham we are off to Greater Manchester to take on top-of-the-table Bolton. The challenge is there for the manager and players, are they ready to take it on? 

Up the O’s!