November 2023
November was something of an unusual month in that out of the six matches that we played in all competitions, only the final one was away: at Bristol Rovers on a chilly Tuesday evening. The first of these matchups was a first round FA Cup tie against Carlisle, the team we had defeated in the league just three weeks previously.
The club’s (understandable) approach to opening only some of the stands for cup matches meant that we ended up in the South Stand along with regular East Stand associate Chris, Herman (aka Leyton Laureate) and his son Colin, and Alan from the RainbO’s lending the occasion a slightly surreal feeling.
We opened the scoring through another Joe Pigott penalty and seemed to largely be in control until five minutes after the break when Joe Garner pulled the Cumbrians level. Goals from Aaron Drinan (yes really!) and Ruel Sotiriou in injury time secured passage to the second round where we were to be drawn against Chesterfield who were running away at the top of the National League.
The following Tuesday we were back in action in E10 in the newly renamed Bristol Street Motors Trophy (catchy hey?) against fellow League 1 side Portsmouth. For some not completely understandable reason the missus’ dad decided he would accompany us to this one. Any hope we had of converting this long-term Arsenal season ticket holder to the Orient cause went out of the window, as we lost 2-1 in a pretty much instantly forgettable game.
Back in league action, next up was the visit of Oxford United who in the lead up to the match had seen manager Liam Manning depart to take over Bristol City in the Championship. If the surprising departure had impacted the U’s playing squad they didn’t show it notching two goals in the opening half to go in at the break 2-0 to the good. The visitors made it 3-0 just a minute into the second half leaving the O’s with it all to do to get back into the match.
An own goal and a Ruel Sotiriou strike just past the hour mark saw us pull it back to 2-3, but in the end, despite some sustained pressure, we couldn’t find an equalizer and were left to rue a slow start to the match.
The following Saturday we faced a blank weekend, international call-ups for both sides meaning that our scheduled game at Port Vale was postponed. To fill in the time I took myself off to watch my hometown team Tranmere Rovers take on Sutton United at Gander Green Lane. It was a hard fought encounter between two teams at the bottom of the table, but, enjoyable as it was, also reinforced the higher quality level of the third tier.
Next was the rearranged game against Lincoln. Sadly we weren’t able to rekindle the performance that we had been showing on that tragically sad evening and fell to a second consecutive home defeat thanks to a very late goal from Ethan Hamilton for the Imps.
A creditable enough draw against Wigan on the Saturday, notable for a brief glimpse of Dan Agyei as a late sub, was followed by a Tuesday evening trip to Bristol. Once again due to the missus’ work commitments I was travelling on my own for this one. Anyone who also went will remember that it was (very) far from a scintillating football encounter, and we had it all to do to rescue a point thanks to an added time own goal from Rovers’ Tristan Crama. From our four league matches in November we had picked up just two points, and there was a feeling that our momentum had been disrupted to an extent.
December 2023
December got off to a highly disappointing start. First we were knocked out of the FA Cup in the snow at Chesterfield, a display in which we showed very little to suggest we were the team from two divisions higher. Then the following Saturday we were humbled 3-0 at home to Derby. While we weren’t helped in any way by Brandon Cooper’s stupid red card just before half-time, in truth we just weren’t able to match the Rams. It was chastening experience not even helped by the fact that the missus and I were able to “enjoy” the match from the corporate hospitality seats thanks to our newly discovered “cousins-in-law” Mike and Paul.
The next game on the travelling itinerary was a trip to Cheltenham which happily coincided with my birthday weekend. It was slightly surreal to be in the quaint Gloucestershire town when there was a race meeting on, but it did make for a very fun weekend. Despite the home team struggling at the bottom of the table, and having a man sent off, we somehow found ourselves a goal down with just over 20 minutes to play. Somehow or other we managed to steal victory thanks to two very late goals from Shaq Forde and Ethan Galbraith, both of which owed quite a bit to fortunate deflections.
Despite standing on the concourse at Euston a good half an hour before our train was due to depart, we didn’t make it to Bolton the following week. The train was cancelled (cheers Avanti!) just 10 mins before it was supposed to leave, and while we could probably have gotten there and back we didn’t want to risk spending the upcoming festive period in Bolton, as delightful as I am sure it is! When we discovered that the O’s were 3-0 down after just 10 minutes, we were somewhat relieved that fate had conspired against us and saved us from what was shaping up to be an embarrassing afternoon.
As we all know though, Orient somehow managed to rouse themselves and get it back to 3-2, in a spirited performance that many have sited as the catalyst for the much improved run of form that was to come.
We overcame Charlton on Boxing Day, the 1-0 win hardly reflecting the fact that we were the better side for large periods of the game. That victory was followed by a slightly frustrating goalless draw at home to Wycombe, but we had little idea of what was to come in the next month or so, starting with the trip to Cambridge on New Years Day.
January 2024
It was a slightly (or very in the missus’ case!) hungover trip via rail replacement bus to Cambridge to start 2024. Thankfully an impromptu pitstop, the odd tequila shot or three, and an unplanned catch-up with Tim, the Orient fan from Norwich, at the handily placed Station Tavern helped to blow away the cobwebs from the previous evening’s festivities. By the time we headed up to the Abbey Stadium we were in decent shape for the match.
The O’s made unexpectedly light work of Cambridge thanks to two goals in the space of just three minutes at the start of the second half: the opener from Jordan Brown and the second from Dan Agyei, his first for the club, and provided a real glimpse of the pace, power and clinical finishing of the former Crewe man.
After another Orient-free weekend thanks to our elimination from the FA Cup at the hands of Chesterfield, next up was the away game that the vast majority of O’s fans had been looking forward to right from when the fixtures had been released in the summer: Fratton Park to take on Portsmouth. Bizarrely the Leyton Laureate chose this one to accompany us on his first bona fide awayday. What a trip he picked!
After the 4-0 early season humbling at home, not even the most wildly optimistic O’s fan would have predicted that we would be 3-0 up at half-time away at the eventual champions in the return fixture. Sure, we had a slice of good fortune when Sol Brynn comfortably saved Colby Bishop’s tame penalty, but we had been the dominant team throughout the first half, and it really was no more than we thoroughly deserved.
The atmosphere in the packed away end, aided by the safe standing area- a first for us, was simply crazy throughout the entirety of the match. The second half was much more about seeing out the result, but there is absolutely no question that this was the standout performance and result of the entire season. The party carried on amongst travelling O’s on the train all the way back to London and then in the Wellington Hotel immediately across the road from Waterloo.
We then followed that outstanding result with a hard-fought 1-0 win over another of the biggest team’s in the division in the form of Bolton, gaining a measure of revenge for the pre-Christmas defeat at their place. At this stage, even the most guardedly cautious of Orient fans were beginning to allow themselves a look at the play-off places and even daring to dream what might be possible.
After the highs of the three straight wins, the 1-1 draw away at ongoing crisis club Reading, felt slightly deflating – a sign of just how impressive our form had been since that defeat at Bolton. Still a point’s a point away from home as they say, and we ended January in 11th place, 10 points behind Stevenage in 6th and the final play-off spot.
To be continued…
Up the O’s!
football nerd 