Being totally honest, while I was hopeful that the O’s would get the result they needed away at Huddersfield last Saturday, I didn’t, even in my most wildly optimistic moments, expect it to be quite so straightforward. Even writing those words reflects just how well Orient have developed through the 2024-25 campaign.

In the end a comfortable 4-1 victory up in Yorkshire combined with Reading’s somewhat surprising loss at home to Barnsley, secured our progress to the League 1 play-offs for the first time in 11 years.

Going into the match, I think the biggest worry that I had was that we would start slowly, sloppily concede an early goal, and end up having to scrap to get ourselves back into the match. How wrong could I be?

In just the second minute of the match, Jamie Donley seized upon a woefully under-hit back pass from Josh Koroma (cheers Josh! Once an O, always an O and all that!), he drove forward before unselfishly setting up Dan Agyei to smash home. What an unexpected but very welcome way to calm the pre-match jitters! Agyei nearly had a second soon after but this time his effort crashed back off the crossbar.

As we approached the half hour mark we forced Huddersfield goalkeeper, Jacob Chapman, to turn the ball into his own net when an Agyei cross looped up as the result of a deflection and Chapman couldn’t paw it out.

Of course it wouldn’t be the Orient we know and love without something to make it “interesting”. Just four minutes before the break we didn’t deal with a ball into the box and somehow that man Koroma (thanks for nothing Josh!) managed to loop a header beyond Josh Keeley.

In the grand scheme of things it didn’t really matter as just three minutes after the restart, Charlie Kelman laid the ball off for Dan Agyei after a quick counter attack, Agyei took a touch to settle himself before curling a beauty inside the left hand post.

As the second half wore on, news began to filter through of Reading conceding first one and then a second goal in quick succession against Barnsley, and it then started to feel like we could relax a tad. There was just time for Azeem Abdulai to make it 4-1 10 minutes before the end. With the final whistle came the realisation that we had only gone and done it. Little (apologies Richie!) Leyton Orient were through to the play-offs.

Before we look forward to the small matter of the two-legged semi-final against Dave Challinor’s admittedly impressive Stockport side, it is worth taking stock of just what a hugely impressive season it has been for our beloved O’s.

I remember coming out of Adams Park at the end of October after we had just been humbled 3-0 without even presenting any semblance of a challenge to an at-the-time rampant Wycombe side, and feeling totally depressed at our prospects for the season. At that stage we had played a total of 13 matches, winning just 3, drawing 2 and losing 8, and were in 20^th spot in the table just a single point above the relegation places.

It almost feels too simple to attribute our incredible turnaround in form to Josh Keeley’s dramatic equalizer and Dan Agyei’s stoppage time winner against Oldham in the second round of the FA Cup, but it certainly seemed to spark our squad into life. From that point forward we embarked on a fantastic 11-match unbeaten run in the League which propelled us up the table, while also progressing in the Vertu Trophy and the FA Cup.

Even when we lost 5 league matches in a row at the end of February and into March it didn’t seem to shake the belief of gaffer Richie Wellens and his charges. We got back to winning ways with hard-fought wins at Blackpool and at home to Stevenage, and while other play-off hopefuls started to drop away due to patchy form, we kept on winning (6 on the bounce to end the season was quite some finish, it has to be said!) and stayed right in the mix until we made the final step last Saturday. It almost feels even better because it was so unexpected at the start of the season.

Onto Stockport tomorrow lunchtime and then Wednesday evening, and the head to head between the two sides in 2024/25 doesn’t really tell us a great deal about what to expect. We won 4-1 at Edgeley Park in September, in a scoreline that arguably flattered us a little, even given how well we played on the day. The Hatters beat us 1-0 at Brisbane Road the week before we hosted Manchester City in the cup.

Through the season Stockport have pretty much consistently been in and around the top 6, they won 25 and drew 12 of their league matches ultimately finishing in third behind “plucky underdogs”(sic!) Wrexham and Birmingham. They also finished very strongly: winning 7 and drawing just 1 of their final 8 matches, so like ourselves are coming into this in a rich vein of form.

Under the ownership of local businessman Mark Stott since 2020, County have ambitious aspirations themselves. Promoted back to the Football League in 2022, they will be looking to make this a third promotion in four years.

From an Orient perspective, we know we will have it all to do to get through over two legs against a strong side. However we have seen time and again from our players that they will be up for the fight, have become more streetwise, and have proven they know how to handle big and important matches.

It feels very much as if we will need to at least be still in the game come Saturday afternoon/ early evening, so it might be a fairly cagey affair as Stockport will want to make sure they don’t hand us the momentum in the tie. If like last week we can find a way to nick an early goal, then that could prove to be beneficial. It is a tough and enticing challenge that lies ahead, but the one thing this Orient squad under (for me at least!) the true League 1 manager of the season has taught us so far is to expect things we may never have thought possible just a few years ago.

Up the O’s!