I know I was far from alone, but I had the right hump when the final whistle went up at Chesterfield on Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t just the fact that we had exited the FA Cup, I realise in the grand scheme of the 2023/24 season that while a run in the cup would have been both enjoyable to the fans, and welcome in terms of the potential financial benefit for the board and head coach, it was the meekness of the “performance” that really irked me.

Of course a trip to National League leading Chesterfield, who have, lest we forget, failed to win on only four occasions in their 21 league matches so far and had dispensed with Portsmouth in the previous round, in difficult conditions, was always going to be a relatively tough task. But to put on such a lacklustre display as our boys did was disappointing to say the very least.

Nobody expects us to go and blow teams away in every match we play, but the least that can be expected from any team at any level is the requisite effort, commitment and attitude to do both yourself justice and for the fans who follow you. Sadly last Sunday that was sorely lacking. Just a cursory look at the match stats shows that we managed only 47% possession and one shot on target against a team two divisions below us, which frankly isn’t anywhere near the level required.

Speaking after the match, a clearly disappointed Richie Wellens made it abundantly clear where he felt the blame lay, suggesting that: “First half I thought we were a disgrace…[The] first six or seven minutes we were ok, I thought we were in control of the game but then they ran a little bit harder, fought a little bit harder and we didn’t react.”

Of course once again we were unlucky to lose Dan Happe to an injury in the warm-up, and then to see Ruel Sotiriou have to leave the field before half-time as a result of an issue picked up in the opening minutes; but it was the lack of tempo to our play, or even the slightest shred of creativity, that was the most frustrating element of the afternoon.

It is tempting to try to separate the performance at Chesterfield from our recent winless run in the league, which stands at seven matches, and to try to think of it as a one-off bad performance, but our deficiencies have been all too plain for a while now.  Injuries and absences have undoubtedly impacted Richie’s selections, but our ponderous sideways and backwards play when we have the ball, the propensity to give away goals as a result of defensive errors, and our bluntness in attack are sadly nothing new.

When we had success earlier in the season it was founded on utilising three centre backs and playing with a more direct style. The evidence of the last two matches against Bristol Rovers and Chesterfield, in which we have tried to use a more traditional back four and to play more of a possession-based style, haven’t exactly produced the results we have been hoping for. Might it be time for something of a rethink in terms of how we set up and approach the games going forward? Especially as we face two massive challenges in Derby County and Bolton Wanderers within the next fortnight, with the Cheltenham game sandwiched in between those two looking more and more important given the low number of points picked up recently.

After the Chesterfield game Richie said he is desperate to bring in some quality and experience in January, with other tough challenges to come at home to Charlton and Wycombe and away at Cambridge before the window opens, even if the budget is there might it be too late?

Richie of course still has a huge amount of credit in the proverbial bank for what he did when he first arrived to turn things around and steady the ship, and for what was a simply fantastic season last term. We all know that the key objective this season is stability in League One, it just feels to me that we need to find a way to win a match, and soon, to start to rebuild the momentum that we have lost since that win over Carlisle nearly two months ago.

Of course we are operating at a higher level and against more experienced teams, but the longer the malaise continues, the more concerned the fanbase will become. We achieved some very impressive results after a very tough start, and I can’t help but feel that the squad we have at our disposal, injuries aside of course, is capable of more than we have been seeing recently.

Next up of course is the visit of Derby County to Brisbane Road tomorrow afternoon. The Rams probably feel they have underachieved so far against their expectations for the season given the size of the club and their previous history. However, they still sit in sixth place in the table and have won their last four matches in a row. Right now it is difficult to see us getting the win we all hope for, but as a wise man once said: “Football’s a funny old game”, and you never know what can happen. If we can re-find our intensity and attitude and go at them right from the off, perhaps find an early breakthrough and truly compete with them, then who knows what we might be able to achieve. Another disappointing display and a humbling result just don’t bear thinking about.   

Before signing off for this week, I am very pleased to introduce what we hope will become a regular feature on this blog: Mrs Orient Nerd has seized control of the keyboard and has put together some thoughts on the trip to Chesterfield in the snow. So without further ado here’s her matchday perspective.

The Missus’ Matchday View

Having to get up at 7am on a freezing Sunday morning to catch a train we thought might be cancelled, to get to a game that we doubted would actually go ahead, is not usually high on the list of ways that I want to spend my Sundays; but this was an FA Cup tie against Chesterfield. 

We know that some of our fellow O’s fans set off way before us from various deepest darkest places in England to make it for the 2pm kick off at the SMH Group Stadium. The weather conditions were not great to say the least. A tonne of snow had hit most of the north of the UK over the previous couple of days and we spent most of the journey not knowing if the game would actually go ahead. Fortunately a call from the club meant that some of the Orient fans who had stayed overnight were available to join Spireites supporters in taking up shovels and clearing the pitch for one of the few games that was able to go ahead in that part of the world. In hindsight I wish they hadn’t bothered!

We arrived at 12.09 and with the place covered in snow, decided to make our way to the nearest German Bar (yes a German Bar in Chesterfield!), Einstein’s. After leaving the bar, the weather conditions hadn’t improved in the slightest and it was perilous underfoot on the way up to the ground with freezing fog and the snow on the pavements turning to ice, not to mention freezing cold!

When we arrived at the ground, thankfully having managed to not break any bones on the way, we treated ourselves to one of the best steak and ale pies I have ever eaten at a ground. It really was extremely good.

As for the game, well, I will leave the tactical analysis to my other half to talk about, but I don’t think we played very well and could hardly string more than one pass together without giving the ball away. All I can say is that for the last 20 minutes I struggled to stay awake. Not sure if this was out of sheer boredom with the game, or whether hypothermia had set in.

The only redeeming part of the day was catching up with some of the usual away day fans we know from our travels around the country and the Supporters Club: (to name but a few) the Picnic Crew, Malcolm who arranges the coaches, Tim from Norwich and Heavy D who was watching the game on his phone inside when I went down early to get the half time pints in. I hadn’t seen the goal, but he assured me it was an own goal by El Miz.

Unfortunately by this time they had also run out of pies which meant none for the long train journey home. It was a terribly disappointing result, but for me it was a great awayday. The whole experience on these trips is about more than just the result. It is about catching up with people we know and meeting new people who we all have something in common with, sharing the same experience of discovering random places I would never normally go to. I love awaydays and for me the result doesn’t really matter because I never expect to win so I can’t really be that disappointed!

This week we have the pleasure of corporate hospitality, thanks to a random connection with our sister-in-law’s cousins’ husbands, it will certainly be a change from the usual freezing cold East Stand concourse, so something to look forward to, at least, if the game doesn’t go our way.

Up the O’s!