Two weeks ago on the back of a comprehensive victory over Blackpool and having progressed in whatever the EFL Trophy is called this week, I (naively perhaps?) suggested that there were some grounds for optimism amongst Orient fans. Sitting here writing this in the aftermath of another home defeat, this time to an ordinary-looking Huddersfield Town side, those positive vibes have all but completely dissipated.

The goalless draw away at Stevenage was the very definition of a game where nothing happened. The atrocious weather conditions certainly didn’t help, but it was a match short on any quality whatsoever. The fact that Carl Piergianni was the deserved man of the match for the home side, and that Dan Happe and Omar Beckles were probably the two best performers for Orient, tells you all you need to know about the game.  Still, a point away at a tough place to go was decent enough, as long as we good back it up with a better performance and a good result the following Tuesday at home to Huddersfield.

After enduring another trip to one of her two least favourite grounds (the other being Northampton of course!) the missus ruled herself out of another Tuesday evening visit to Brisbane Road and instead we called in a late substitute in the form of our friend Gina. The fact that Gina moaned about hipster tourist fans, and left disgruntled by the O’s performance at half-time made her the perfect replacement!

It was actually a fairly even start to the match, Charlie Kelman and Sonny Perkins both had chances but unsurprisingly given the way both have lacked confidence in front of goal throughout the season, neither was able to make their opportunity count. Then midway through the first half and stop me if you have heard this one before(!), our statuesque defending from a corner allowed Michal Helik the freedom of the 6-yard box to head the Terriers into the lead. Even then most of the home crowd feared that we didn’t simply have it in us to turn the match around.

An audacious triple substitution just after half-time which saw Jack Simpson replace the injured Dan Happe, and Dom Ball and Diallang Jaiyesimi come on for Lewis Warrington and Sonny Perkins, showed our intent but would ultimately come back to bite us.

Just past the hour mark former Orient player Josh Koroma went over in the penalty area with what to my admittedly very biased eyes looked like minimal contact from Omar Beckles, but the referee had little hesitation in pointing to the spot. Thankfully Josh Keeley got down quickly to his right to parry Koroma’s penalty. For me it was a generous decision and a relief that Keeley kept it out.

Tragedy struck moments later when Jordan Graham, who had only just come as part of a double substitution with Brandon Cooper, went down in a heap on the touchline after a robust-looking challenge. Sadly for Graham he had to be stretchered off with what was later confirmed to be a repeat of the injury that cut his season short last year and from which he was still trying to get back to fitness. I have to admit that I am absolutely gutted for Jordan, first and foremost because it is a bitterly cruel twist of fate that will now see him out for at least the rest of the campaign again.

Secondly because after the news last week about Theo Archibald this will now deprive us of another player with the creativity and guile that is so missing from our attacking play at the moment. All we can do is to wish Jordan well with his recovery and hope to see him back playing as soon as possible. Get well soon Jordan! Having used all of our permitted substitutions for the second time this season we had to try and see out the rest of the match with 10 men.

In the final minute, Jack Simpson’s under hit back pass allowed Callum Marshall to block Keeley’s attempted clearance and the ball ricocheted into the back of the net. Talk about shooting ourselves in the foot again. As what was left of the crowd departed Brisbane Road, I believe there may have been some booing, but for me, like the majority of Orient fans I assume, there was just a feeling of dejected deflation.

The defeat kept us in the bottom four of the table having won just 4, drawn 3 and lost 9 of our 16 league games so far. We are now a third of the way through the season and it really does feel as if we haven’t managed to get going. The annoying ongoing interruptions by international breaks certainly haven’t helped, but we just don’t seem to be able to string a run of performances and results together.

Back at the end of September when we had just beaten Reading and Stockport away and drawn at home with Peterborough, there was every reason to believe that we could consolidate a mid-table position. Since then our form has been patchy to say the least, we have picked up just 8 points from a possible 27. It might be too early to start worrying about a relegation battle, but it certainly feels as if we are going to have to scrap our way away from the bottom of the table.

Over recent weeks the message coming from gaffer Richie Wellens and the board has been that a run of fixtures against teams lower in the league than we have faced previously in coming weeks offers the opportunity of picking up points and climbing the table, but do any of us have any great confidence that we can build a winning run?

If we are going to start to turn things around then the first thing we have to do is to address the two biggest issues that have been hampering us for most of this season, and if we are completely honest probably date back even longer: our lack of attacking threat and a propensity to make sloppy errors at the back.

Starting at the top end of the team, where are the goals going to come from? For whatever reason Dan Agyei seems a shadow of the player that we raved about last winter. After the match on Tuesday Richie was quick to point out that Agyei was “the biggest threat in the game” but in truth did we ever look like scoring from any of his breaks?

We know that Charlie Kelman is highly rated by Richie, but it is fair to say that for most fans the jury is still very much out. Yes he has pace and usually puts in a solid effort in terms of work rate, but for me he lacks the natural instincts of a clinical goalscorer. His finishing is far from convincing, and he doesn’t seem to get himself into dangerous positions often enough.

As often happens with young players Ollie O’Neill hasn’t managed to live up to his impressive displays since joining us for the second half of last season, while DJ and Sonny Perkins, other than Perkins’ recent run of goals, haven’t added very much to our attack. 

Midfield remains a work in progress. We can all agree that Ethan Galbraith is our best player and for me he should always be used as the number 10 as he is our one creative spark, so it was interesting to hear Richie on the Orient Outlook podcast making the point that putting him at right back gives him a greater involvement and has often produced our better results. If that is going to be a serious option in the future then Jamie Donley is going to have to show us the player that he is reported to be in supporting the forward line.

In the heart of the midfield, the El Miz sized hole hasn’t really been filled, that’s not a criticism of our recruitment per se as any team would struggle to replace a player of the Tunisian’s quality. Almost by accident Sean Clare was outstanding in the centre of the park in that September run of good performance and results, but with him ruled out until at least January we need to settle on a consistent pairing.

It now seems abundantly clear that, as solid as he can be in any given game, Darren Pratley just can’t play two games in a week anymore. Meanwhile the rotating cast of Jordan Brown, Dom Ball and Lewis Warrington have all had their spells, but it still remains unclear what our best pairing is. Equally if the personnel are changing regularly it is hard to build the understanding, the automatisms in modern football parlance, that are so important.

Defensively we seem to have settled on a first choice back four of: Tom James, Omar Beckles, Dan Happe (unless he is ruled out through injury after Tuesday night) and Jack Currie, but it is the propensity for errors that give away goals that is the biggest concern.

At least now we seem to have settled on Josh Keeley as first choice goalkeeper, even if most of us would have preferred a permanent signing. The young Irish stopper seems to be growing in stature by the week and looks the real deal.

Next up of course is an FA Cup tie against Oldham which might give us the opportunity to begin to establish a settled starting eleven and also to get our attacking play going. With a busy league programme following that match, it really feels like the next few weeks are going to be make or break for our season.

Up The O’s!