It’s been a slightly surreal football-watching week for the missus and me. First we introduced a Norwegian football obsessive associate of ours to the delights of a matchday in E10, and then we were among the reported 205 Orient fans to go to Port Vale in the pouring rain last Tuesday evening. Pleasingly both matches ended up in victory for our beloved O’s and an extension of our current unbeaten run to eight matches.

The weekend before last our mate Øystein messaged me to say that he had secured a ticket for Arsenal v Liverpool for the Sunday, and he quite fancied coming to watch Leyton Orient the day before. We first met Øystein through another Norwegian football obsessive associate of ours, Professor Hans (who we had bizarrely met in a bar in Valencia watching the North London Derby- long and complicated story!), when they had come over to watch an Arsenal match a few years back.

We met up with Øystein on the way to the Supporters Club and introduced him to some of the regular gang, including Chris who reported that not only had he “accidentally” bought a ticket for the upcoming match away at Barnsley, but that he had also “accidentally” booked himself on the Supporters Club coach, Tim, Dan, Matt and our “cousin-in-law” Paul; it made for quite an eclectic group.

Despite falling behind to an unexpected, and it has to be said, somewhat unfortunate goal from Josh Vela, the O’s rallied with two goals from Shaq Forde just before the break. The first an impressive, controlled finish from the edge of the area, the second a composed header.  

When Ruel Sotiriou made it 3-1 just before the hour mark, there really only looked like being one winner. However, a late penalty for the visitors in the fifth minute of added time made life just a little bit interesting right at the death. Overall, it was a (very?) comfortable win for the O’s and three more points towards our quest for a top half finish.

After the match we met up with Øystein back at the Supporters Club before heading off for an excellent pizza at Figo and a final pint in the wine bar, where we bumped into Heavy D and his barber from Carlisle. Nope we’re still trying to work that one out ourselves!

When the original match at Port Vale had been called off due to international call-ups on behalf of the hosts, the missus and I had decided that we wouldn’t be bothering with a Tuesday night trip to Stoke/Burslem and had resigned ourselves to watching on the stream. However as the game got closer the missus started to wonder why we weren’t in fact going to go? I had literally that day just enquired via the ticket office how we could get a refund on the tickets, when we found ourselves booking the train and accommodation for the trip.

So it was that we find ourselves on the train to Stoke on Tuesday afternoon. The better half had played another blinder in finding an appropriate place to stay: the Sutherland Arms- which is exactly what it sounds like a pub with rooms above. Could there be anywhere more suitable for us?

After a nice and straightforward check-in process we dumped our bags in the room and given that it was raining quite hard outside, decided to check out the facilities downstairs before ordering a cab to take us up to the ground.

It was still raining fairly steadily when we arrived and when we asked a steward the way to the away end, we were slightly bemused to find that it was now at the other end of the ground from when we had been here a couple of seasons previously. Worse still, the recommended route involved a trek round the houses and then a stroll across a park. Not exactly ideal given the very wet conditions!

With the fixture being rearranged and with the big trip to Barnsley at the weekend, the travelling support was somewhat sparse but was boosted by Richie Wellens’ family, Jordan Brown’s dad and a load of his locally based friends. We spent a bit of time chatting to Jordan’s dad and then Irene and Rick Wellens while trying to shelter from the continuing rain.

With Vale struggling towards the bottom end of the table, and having only the previous day sacked manager Andy Crosby, it felt like another game that Orient should be taking all three points from. We spent almost the entirety of the first half camped in the Vale half but without really finding a way to open up their massed ranks and make the all-important breakthrough. The fear was that without Dan Agyei, now officially ruled out for pretty much the remainder of the season with a hamstring injury, we would return to our struggles in front of goal.

At half-time we were chatting to the gaffer’s brother, Anthony, and Kay suggested rather cheekily that the way his club Manchester United were going at the moment they might be on the lookout for a new manager. It came as great relief to us when he suggested that he was available given that his brother wasn’t!

On the hour mark we finally got the breakthrough we had been searching for when Tom James played a sublime ball between the lines to send Idris El Mizouni through on goal, our superstar Tunisian and stand-in skipper for the evening made no mistake curling home what turned out to be the winner. It hadn’t been an especially brilliant match, but it was another gratefully received victory.

The win lifted us up to ninth spot in the table, just a point behind Blackpool in eighth. As Orient fans we all know that optimism is best avoided just in case things go horribly wrong, but if we can carry on our current run of form, then who knows where it might take us. The one worry is of course the ongoing absence of Agyei. As well as Shaq Forde and Ruel Sotiriou have stepped up their efforts, we all saw how much more of a goal threat the former Crewe man offers.

After the match, we headed back to the pub, via the Vine Inn (well we needed to order a taxi!), but sadly weren’t in time for last orders. Reflecting the next day (over breakfast in ‘Spoons of course!) on another hugely fun awayday and a decent result, we concluded that if we can’t even turn down a trip to Stoke on a wet Tuesday night, then we really have reached the point where we are completely beyond hope in our Orient obsession.

Next up of course is another awayday, this time at fifth placed Barnsley. This one feels like another really big test and one which we are going to have it all to do to get a creditable result. However, there is a real buzz about the squad and how it has been progressing so well since that defeat at Bolton. Another strong performance and a decent result might have us all believing that a spot in the play-offs might really be achievable.

Up the O’s!