Well that was all a bit disappointing wasn’t it? After the relative high of the unexpected win at Millwall in the League Cup, Orient fans were brought crashing down to earth by a stagnant performance and 3-0 capitulation at lowly Shrewsbury Town. It is now the O’s that sit bottom of the table, the only team in the division without so much as a solitary point. It was the level of performance (or lack thereof!) that was the most galling part of our fourth consecutive league defeat.

Against Bolton, Charlton and Birmingham there had been enough in our performances to suggest we could at least compete and give it a go against the higher-rated teams. Taking nothing at all away from Shrewsbury, who did what they needed to do, did it well, and thoroughly deserved the three points; from our point of view, the performance we put in was well short of what is required at this level.

It had all started so well, our train and connection all went smoothly, and we arrived in Shrewsbury at the much more civilised hour than last time of 12:20. We headed down to the riverside and caught up with the Easy Lovers (Paul, Harry Kane lookalike (well at least according to the better half!) Mark and Phil Bailey – no not that one!), before heading up to the ground using the local, surprisingly efficient, taxi app.

 Once we arrived it made me smile again as we headed for the fanzone that borders a community garden, there can’t be that many (any?) football grounds with similar facilities! We chatted away with some more travelling O’s before catching up with “cousin-in-law” Paul and his better half Angie who were making a weekend of the whole experience.

Right from the kick-off Orient just seemed somewhat off the pace. Other than an early effort from Jordan Brown that went wide, there was little in the way of goalmouth action until Tommi O’Reilly slipped a lovely ball through our backline for Leo Castledine to run onto and slot past Zach Hemming to open the scoring for the Shrews.

As anyone who was in the away end can’t have failed to see, this prompted one of our number to remonstrate vehemently with Hemming. I get the annoyance at such sloppy defending but there was little our loanee goalkeeper could have done about it. Thankfully Barri from the Supporters Club was on hand to “diffuse” the situation as the stewards simply stood looking on.

When we needed to raise our game after going a goal down we mustered very little at all save for our only shot on target from Ethan Galbraith 10 mins before the break, and an effort from Dan Agyei that clipped the top of the crossbar just moments later.

The second half carried on in very much the same vein with us enjoying the lion’s share of possession (73% over the 90 minutes) but producing very little (anything?) with it. Two late goals from substitute Tom Bloxham, the first a tasty strike from range, sealed our fate and we left New Meadow with our tails very much between our legs.

Speaking after the match gaffer Richie Wellens apologised to the travelling fans and suggested it was “the worst performance” since he has been at the club, highlighting a lack of crosses into the box and suggesting that we were “too slow, too lethargic… [played] too many straight passes”. It is difficult to disagree with that assessment, so where did it all go wrong?

Complacency is a big word as it implies that we thought we would simply need to turn up to win the game, but as Richie went on to say if you don’t do the basics and don’t approach the game with the right level of intensity, then it is always going to be a struggle.

I realise we have for the most part a very young side, but the least you can expect of any set of players are the “non-negotiables” as has become the accepted managerial parlance. Any player or team can have an off day, but if the requisite levels of effort, work rate and intensity aren’t there, then you have no chance of playing yourself into a match.

As a result of the Peterborough fixture being rearranged due to international call-ups we now have a fortnight break between league matches, which may be a good thing as it will give us time to regroup as a squad and for Richie and the coaching staff to put some serious work in on the training ground. On the other hand however, after a disappointing performance and result it might be better to be back into properly competitive action straight away.

We did have a match of sorts in the much-maligned EFL Trophy on Tuesday night when we took on Arsenal U21’s, the “Nerd Derby” as Keren from the Supporters Club referred to it, given that yours truly used to hold a season ticket at the Emirates.

Despite joking that I wanted a 6-6 draw and a penalty shootout that went through both teams at least twice, in reality my Orient allegiance prevailed. The logic being that as a supporter of an EFL club and against the hijacking of the competition to allow Premier League B teams to compete, I know where my loyalties lie.

As he was at a loose end as a result of the international break we invited Kay’s Dad, an Arsenal season ticketholder of long standing, along with us and (re)introduced him to the delights of the Supporters Club.

I get that for the reasons given above many fans aren’t bothered about these matches, but I always find them enjoyable in a non-pressurised kind of way. The match itself was fairly entertaining, Arsenal’s kids took the lead in the third minute thanks to another kicking error from an Orient goalkeeper, a “Howesler” as the missus wittily dubbed it!

Dan Happe levelled the scores just before the half hour mark with a strong header from a Tom James cross, but our good work was all undone just 10 minutes into the second half when Ismael Kabia outpaced and outmuscled new loanee left back Jack Currie and fired past an out of position Sam Howes. In many ways that was the story of the match as quick, skilful and lively as the Gunners’ youngsters were, we failed to make our greater physicality and experience count.

Dan Agyei had a late opportunity to restore parity and take us to a penalty shootout but skied his effort over the bar and way up into the South Stand. A loss in this competition is nothing to lose any sleep over, but for me the lack of attacking cohesion, as has been apparent in our league matches so far, was one of the biggest standouts of the performance.

We now face what feels like a really long wait until we are back in action at Reading a week tomorrow. After that we have the trip to Brentford in the Leage Cup and matches against Stockport, Peterborough and Wrexham in quick succession. Drastic improvement is needed, and quickly, otherwise we might find ourselves in a very depressing place come the end of September.

Up the O’s!