As I walked out of Brisbane Road on Saturday evening, the one word that kept echoing round my head was “naïve”. I wasn’t disappointed per se, but former O Victor Adeboyejo’s winner for Bolton with just quarter of an hour left to play felt like something of a sucker punch.

Going into the match it was a difficult one to call, on the one hand the visitors were last season’s beaten play-off finalists and surely rank amongst the favourites for promotion this time around. On the other, decent preseason form and results, the return to fitness of some of our key players, and some promising new recruits gave the Orient faithful grounds for optimism going into the new campaign.

Despite conceding an early opening goal through a Dion Charles strike that somehow evaded new goalkeeper Zach Hemming’s outstretched arm and nestled into the bottom right hand corner of the net, our response was pretty encouraging. There was a stunning strike from Zech Obiero that crashed back off the crossbar before Charlie Kelman latched onto a ball over the top from Dan Happe and slotted home to bring us back on terms. It was a clinical finish from the returning Kelman, and nothing more than we thoroughly deserved.

The second half continued to be a fairly well-matched contest although Orient could have put themselves into the lead early on when Kelman was denied a second by a decent stop from Bolton keeper Nathan Baxter. In fact Baxter was to frustrate the O’s further: first producing a reflex save to tip a Jordan Brown header from a corner over the bar, and then saving from Kelman with his legs.

However it was a mistake by our goalkeeper that was sadly to determine the destination of all 3 points. Hemming came out to try to claim a free kick into the box only to spill it allowing Adeboyejo the easiest of finishes.

Right at the death Kelman had a chance to salvage a point, (yep you guessed it!), only to be denied by another good stop by Baxter. In many ways the final result was determined by the performances of the two keepers.

Speaking after the match gaffer Richie Wellens was keen to focus on the positives we could take from the match in terms of how we went toe-to-toe with one of the favoured teams in the division; how we got more aggressive, grew into the game and believed more; the fact that for the last 20 minutes or so of the first half we looked the better team; and that we probably had the better chances in the match.

It is always difficult to judge any team after the opening match of a season, but I have to agree that there was plenty in the performance to encourage us going forward. Of course a significant focus of discussions after the match has been on Zach Hemming and in particular his error for the winner, and also the opening goal which many seem to think he should have saved.

As we know all too well being a goalkeeper is a lonely job, especially for a relatively young one trying to prove himself on loan at a new club, and unfortunately for Hemming he got off to the worst kind of start possible.

I presume the fact that Hemming was selected again in the League Cup game against Newport on Tuesday evening, was an attempt by Richie to try and build his confidence after the disappointment in the opening league game. In theory it should have been the ideal match to do so, but sadly once again he looked weak in trying to deal with Newport’s goal. Thankfully at that point we were three goals to the good and pretty much cruising, so his error didn’t prove too costly.

Quite where we go from here with regard to the goalkeeping spot poses quite a conundrum. Our back-up stopper, Sam Howes, can’t have been overly chuffed to have been overlooked for Tuesday night’s game, and given the paucity of his appearances since the beginning of last season, I for one remain to be convinced that Richie truly trusts him. However if Hemming were to be dropped for Saturday’s trip to the Valley what message will that give to him?

The Middlesborough loanee was clearly brought in as first choice, but if he starts against Charlton and (heaven forbid!) makes another error, we will likely have little option but to try Howes in his place. It would seem fanciful and most likely beyond our budget to think we could bring in another keeper before the end of the transfer window.

Other than their goal, the match on Tuesday night felt very comfortable, almost like a continuation of pre-season. Dan Agyei’s early goal pretty much put paid to Newport’s hopes, and we were able to control the game as we wanted to. The victory though did see us progress past the first round for the first time since we had to forfeit the match against Tottenham thanks to positive Covid tests in the lockdown season, 2020/21. As a reward we now head to the New Den to face Millwall in a tie that a sizeable majority of the Orient faithful will undoubtedly be relishing.

Of course the other big news from an Orient fan perspective has been the improvements to the East Stand concourse and the South Stand bar. Given the nature of the two games played and the selective opening of the stands for cup matches, the missus and I had the opportunity to sample both this week.

The main focus of works in the East Stand was to create more room underneath the stand, anyone who has ever experienced queueing up for food, drink or the loo will know how cramped it used to be. There is certainly more space and the food and drink offerings have been expanded, however the one thing we noted was the lack of shelves on which to perch your beer and food. The toilets have been replaced and the overcrowding was less of an issue. Plus, overgrown child that I am, I found the automatic beer machines exciting to use, although I was less enthusiastic at the price of £6.30 for a pint!

The main issue with the South Stand bar seems to be the noise that is created by the removal of the carpet. Coming in as an East Stand regular I still marvel at the fact that there is a bar in the stand, so I am not really able to really comment; although after talking to Heavy D and others on Tuesday evening I know they are less than impressed with the new set-up, décor and general feel of the place.

Tomorrow of course we make the very short trip south of the river to take on Charlton in an early kick-off (thanks again Sky!). While Charlton simply have to be better than they were at the start of last season, I am hopeful that we can build on the positives from the opening match, put in a solid performance and hopefully secure a decent result. A goal or two and a decent, mistake-free display from Zach Hemming would also be more than welcome. Here’s hoping!

Up the O’s!