When I signed off last week’s blog post (Orient Nerd Weekly Ramblings- Orient are well and truly in the doldrums but how do we snap out of it?), I was genuinely hopeful that an FA Cup tie against opponents from the National League South would provide a good opportunity for Orient to get themselves out of the doldrums, and to start to build some form and momentum going forward. In the end a 2-2 draw, in a match we could have actually lost but for a late “goal” being ruled out for Boreham Wood, and a penalty shootout win has done little to convince me that we are on track to address our poor recent form.

Unlike a lot of Orient fans, the missus and I had never had the “pleasure” of visiting Meadow Park before, so were actually quite keen to see what it was like. Even the fact that the match was moved to a Sunday did nothing to put us off.

Handily enough for us there are direct trains from Greenwich straight through to Elstree & Boreham Wood. Although we somewhat undid our own good planning by rocking up to the station about 45 minutes before our train was due. Not wanting to kill time at the station we jumped on the first train that came along and then changed at London Bridge and again at West Hampstead. Even with the changes it didn’t take too long, and we arrived in Borehamwood about half an hour before we had originally been scheduled to.

Having been in communication on the way there, we headed straight for the handily placed (pretty much halfway between the station and the ground) Pick and Shovel to catch up with Paul and Gary from the Easy Lovers. The pub itself felt like it may have been a Wetherspoons in a previous existence, it very much had the look and feel of one, but it was pleasant enough and the drinks were noticeably cheaper than in London proper.

While Meadow Park still looks and feels like a non-league ground, the investment in the pitch and facilities by Arsenal (as it is used by Arsenal Women and their youth teams) means that it is slightly better than you would normally expect. Although the uncovered away terrace allocated to visiting supporters definitely has a throwback feel to it!

Unsurprisingly, given the difference in level between the two sides, Orient started the game very much in control. After just 12 minutes the much-maligned Sonny Perkins put us ahead with his first goal for the club, firing home from the edge of the area, although it has to be said that Nathan Ashmore in the Wood goal could and probably should have done better. In fairness Perkins has had a tough time making any kind of impact since joining on loan from Leeds in the summer, it can only be hoped that finally finding the back of the net might stand him in good stead going forward.

We weren’t able to extend our lead before half time, but 4 minutes after the restart Dan Agyei made it 2-0, tapping home from close range after Perkins had set him up. So far, so comfortable, or so it seemed!

As we entered the final half hour of the match, Zech Obiero replaced Jamie Donley and Jordan Brown came on for Brandon Cooper. Whether the substitutions disrupted our flow, or whether it was more a case of us prematurely thinking we had the game in the bag is impossible to know for sure, but from that stage on we just seemed to fall apart.

First Tyrone Marsh pulled one back for the hosts bundling in from close range. Then with just 5 minutes of normal time remaining Charlie O’Connoll headed home a corner from the right as our defence stood watching, something that has been all too common this season. Talk about making life hard after cruising in the match!

It could have been even worse as Boreham Wood had the ball in the net late on only for it to be ruled out for offside. As it was at the far end of the ground when the referee blew for full-time a proportion of the travelling support (the better half very much included!) didn’t realise that the goal wouldn’t stand and that an extra half hour was going to be required.

Jayden Sweeney was shown a petty-looking second yellow card in the 12^th minute of extra time for delaying the restart of play, but neither side looked like sneaking it and we headed towards an inevitable-seeming penalty shootout. Josh Keeley saved comfortably from Thomas Whelan, DJ slotted our first one away, then the impressive up to that point Chris Bush clattered an effort off the bar, but Ollie O’Neill failed to make our second effort count.

Josh Hare made it 1-1 before Darren Pratley calmly dispatched his spot kick and Junior Dixon missed for Boreham Wood, meaning that if Ethan Galbraith could convert his penalty we were through. It was no surprise whatsoever when the young Northern Irishman did just that and we were headed to the next round.  It was by no means an impressive performance, but it was job just about done nonetheless.

Speaking to Dulcet Dave after the match, a relieved Richie Wellens reflected on how we had let a comfortable position slip thanks to “a wacky 5 or 6 minutes” in which we were “constantly giving the ball away and losing duels”. An undoubtedly accurate assessment which of course begs the question of why we allowed it to happen, as it is far from being the first time this season we have been our own worst enemy? 

Our reward is of course a home tie against National League Oldham Athletic, which should (I repeat, should!) see us progress to the third round as long as we take heed of the lessons from Boreham Wood. As we well know a cup run is very much on Nigel and the Board’s wishlist. Before then though the priority has to be on trying to get ourselves going in the league, starting with the visit of Blackpool tomorrow afternoon.

The Tangerines are in a poor run of form themselves, helped in no way at all by the tragic and very sad death of Steve Bruce’s four month old grandson which has understandably seen the veteran manager miss games recently.

After that we face another blank weekend as the Mansfield match has fallen victim to international call-ups, so it really feels that this is a game that we have to win otherwise the murmurings around the Orient faithful are only likely to increase.

Up The O’s!