We ended Part 2 (Orient Nerd Season Review 2024/25 – Part 2: December 2024 to February 2025) of our Season Review having just done ourselves proud, not only competing against, but actually challenging one of the greatest squads ever assembled in the shape of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. That however wasn’t the end of the story of the 2024/25 season, there was much much more to come.

February 2025 (Part 2)

After such a special, emotional and wonderful day against Manchester City, we returned to normality with a home game against Mansfield Town the following Tuesday evening. To say there wasn’t the same buzz of anticipation around the ground would be quite some understatement. Nor was the crowd anywhere near as big as it had been the previous Saturday.

It was another match that the O’s handled efficiently and effectively: Jordan Brown put us 1-0 up after 5 minutes and it was 3-0 just after the half hour mark thanks to further goals from new short-term signing Randell Williams and Ethan Galbraith. In truth we probably should have scored more, or maybe that was just being greedy.

The following Saturday was the visit of Lincoln City to E10 and the chance to avenge the disappointing loss up at their place in the early autumn when we were still very much finding our feet as a squad.

Everything seemed to be going nicely according to plan as Sonny Perkins, seemingly having discovered some form in an attacking sense, scored two goals in the first 30 minutes. When Lincoln pulled one back in added time at the end of the first half it was annoying but hardly cause for major concern. However when James Collins made it 2-2 on 75 minutes it was starting to feel like it was going to be 2 points dropped.

We needn’t have worried however as Charlie Kelman, who was game by game looking and acting more and more like a genuine natural goal scorer, was on hand in injury time to fire home and secure another important 3 points. In football there aren’t many feelings that can match the buzz that you get when your team grabs a very late winner, however as we were to find out in just a couple of weeks’ time, it certainly feels very different when you have a game snatched away from you at the very death. 

Before then though was the first match in three consecutive Tuesday evening awaydays, a trip to North Wales to take on Hollywood-backed Wrexham. The original fixture had to be rearranged, for once not because of international call-ups but because of our ongoing involvement in the FA Cup. In their infinite “wisdom” the EFL deigned to mandate us to play the rearranged match with just eight days’ notice. Somehow I managed to wangle the time off work, but it was to prove problematic for many others, although the club was good enough to arrange coaches to get as many travelling O’s there as possible.

Amazingly, despite having spent a significant amount of my youth living on the Wirral (just over 30 miles away), I had never actually had the pleasure of visiting the Racecourse Ground previously. I had also just read the excellent book “Tinseltown” by Ian Herbert detailing how Hollywood stars Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds have bankrolled the Red Dragons through (at the time) two successive promotions, so I was keen to go and see what all the fuss was about.

Going into the match I don’t think you would have found many of the hardy 500+ travelling Orient faithful who were confident of anything more than a point, as significantly the hosts had lost just once previously at home in the season to date. Indeed when Ollie Rathbone opened the scoring for Wrexham early on, I couldn’t help but fear that this might be a step too far for us in our recent run of good form.

Oh how wrong could I be! It took all of 15 minutes for us to draw level, Darren Pratley clipped a ball into the box from the right wing, Charlie Kelman controlled it, swivelled and slotted the ball low in off the post into the far corner. The away end went bananas, and we pointed out to our hosts exactly what we thought of them and their high profile ownership.

Things were to go to another even crazier level for the travelling fans just five minutes after half-time when Jamie Donley, lurking unmarked on the edge of the penalty area, rifled a low volley from a half-cleared corner into the net to give us the lead.

The rest of the match felt very much a case of holding onto what we had in the face of increasingly desperate Wrexham attacks. We could have given ourselves breathing space very late on but somehow wasted a glorious opportunity when Dan Agyei and Azeem Abdulai were sent clear but a combination overplaying/ faffing around in front of goal, saw the chance come to nought.

We had to survive the final stages with only 10 men after Darren Pratley dragged Jack Marriot down deep in our half as the Wrexham man looked to have broken away, but we held out for the win in a match I certainly won’t forget for a very long time.

There was no rest for travelling supporters as the following Saturday was a trip to Bolton. It was a surprisingly pleasant and sunny February day, and the Harvester pub that we opted to have our pre-match pints in, not only had a pleasant enough garden, but also served maxi-pints (literally a two pint pot, happy days indeed!). Unfortunately that was about the highlight of the trip for Orient fans.

Right from the start of the match the O’s seemed to struggle to get going. It felt as if the recent hectic schedule, and most specifically the exertions of the previous Tuesday evening in North Wales, had taken a lot out of the players and we were lacking a bit in terms of both energy and impetus.

As the first half wore on though we seemed to get more of a grip of the game, and when Charlie Kelman scored for the third consecutive league match five minutes before half-time, it was no more than we deserved.

In the second half things seemed to go awry. It seemed to start when centre back Brandon Cooper had to leave the field with cramp (seriously? a centre back with cramp? I mean it was sunny, but…). Due to injuries to all our other central defenders, it meant that Jayden Sweeney had to come on and try his best to fill in in the heart of our defence.

Just three minutes later however, Bolton countered from our throw deep in their half catching our back four too high up the pitch and John McAtee levelled the scores, slotting the ball between Josh Keeley’s legs.

Given the way things were going in the match, it is probably fair to say that most of the O’s fans in attendance would have settled for a point. However with quarter of an hour to go Dom Ball got in a tangle with a Bolton player bringing him down in the penalty area, and the referee pointed to the spot. To my admittedly biased eyes it seemed soft, but with the benefit of hindsight (and a few watches of the replay) it was merited.

Aaron Morley converted the spot-kick, and we were consigned to a defeat. The result was disappointing but once I had stopped sulking (around about Crewe on the way home!) we reflected on what had been another very fun awayday.

Next was another Tuesday evening solo away trip for me as we headed up to England’s second city to take on big-spending league leaders Birmingham City. As anyone who was at the match or managed to find a way to watch it on TV will recall, the contest was ruined before it could even get going by the referee Martin Woods. For some completely unexplained reason he decided to issue a red card to Jack Currie for a challenge that at worst merited a yellow (if that!), and completely and utterly destroyed the game as a spectacle with just 11 minutes on the clock. The most galling thing about the whole situation was that the assistant referee didn’t even raise his flag for a foul despite the incident happening right in front of him.

Richie Wellens, presumably concluding that our best bet was to try to hold out for an unlikely seeming draw replaced Charlie Kelman and Dilan Markanday with Dom Ball and Jayden Sweeney. Through a combination of tenacity, good fortune, the frame of the goal and surprisingly wasteful finishing from Birmingham, we managed to keep the match scoreless up to half-time.

Our resistance was finally broken 8 minutes into the second half when Taylor Gardner-Hickman seized on a loose ball in the area to prod home.

Six minutes from time Ethan Laird, who to be fair had been impressive all evening, made it 2-0, and that was that. As gaffer Richie Wellens said after the match it was a shame our players didn’t get to test themselves against the best team in the division and that the nearly 27,000 crowd didn’t get more of a spectacle to enjoy.

March 2025

The start of March saw us play Charlton for the third time, when we hosted them at Brisbane Road for the return league fixture. Unfortunately in almost a complete reversal of the Lincoln game a couple of weeks previously, this match was to have a nasty sting in the tail for the O’s.

It was all going pretty well, Jordan Brown finally finding the breakthrough five minutes after half-time with a fading drive from just outside the area. However as we headed into added time seemingly comfortable, things were to go horribly wrong, and alarmingly quickly, as Charlton scored not once, but twice from corners to steal the victory. If we were being uber critical we might suggest that Josh Keeley should have perhaps done better on both of the balls into the goalmouth, but our whole defensive set-up left a lot to be desired. If snatching the victory late against Lincoln meant that the whole crowd left the ground buzzing, this one felt like a complete and utter punch in the guts.

Next up we were back on the road again for a third Tuesday night in a row, this time to Rotherham. As impressive as the ground and especially the food (a fully loaded tray of pie, proper(!) mash and mushy peas drenched in thick gravy- just what us northerners love!) was, the match didn’t offer a lot for travelling Orient fans to get excited about. In the end we were to lose 1-0 thanks to a Jayden Sweeney own goal on the hour mark, condemning us to our fourth consecutive defeat. It was starting to feel as if the play-offs, a bit like in the previous campaign, might be just a step too far.  

Being the complete and utter part-time supporter that I am, I was actually away with my Dad and brother on a football trip to the Basque Country for the visit of Northampton the following weekend. Following the match on my phone and getting updates from the missus who had taken her dad in my place, as we lost 2-1 was not the change in fortunes for Orient I had been hoping for.

Upon my return it was the much-anticipated away trip to Blackpool. While I wasn’t expecting great things result or performance wise, I was determined to enjoy the surreal awayday experience that only the self-titled “Las Vegas of the North” can offer.

Perhaps the most generous thing we could say about the match, was that Orient got away with one. Little happened for the opening half hour and then almost from out of nowhere we found a spark of creativity. Ethan Galbraith played a corner short to DJ, who cleverly worked space for himself before firing in a pinpoint cross that Charlie Kelman finished with a glancing header from inside the 6 -yard box.

Blackpool should have levelled the score before half-time when Ashley Fletcher seized onto a loose ball, rounded Josh Keeley and then somehow clipped his effort over the bar when it looked for all the world easier to score.

At the break Jack Simpson had to go off with a back injury and was replaced by Brandon Cooper. Just past the hour mark Blackpool found an equalizer as Sonny Carey showed clever footwork to drive into the area and fire home. Thankfully the deflation amongst the travelling support didn’t last very long, as just two minutes later Kelman made it 2-1 when he poked home a cross from Dan Agyei from the right.

From there a combination of resolute defending including a move to three central defenders with Darren Pratley performing heroically, further wasteful finishing by Blackpool, and some more outstanding saves from Josh Keeley, saw us somehow secure all 3 points. It certainly wasn’t pretty, but in a way that made it even more worth celebrating! 

After the match we bumped into Darin, Dave, Jack and H in the Manchester pub and then Heavy D came to join us. After a few drinks watching the rugby on TV we decided that we would head down to one of the world-renowned Ma Kelly’s branches which we had seen on the way up. Once installed it wasn’t long until we were joined by the Picnic Crew and various other travelling O’s fans, many of whom took over the dance floor for a resounding rendition of “Delilah”. We topped the whole evening off with a fantastic curry, it was great to be back to winning ways.

Even though our recent run of losses had seen us drop to ninth in the table we were still just 5 points of the last play-off spot, and if we could get ourselves back on another winning run, there was every reason to still believe.

Little did I know at the time but after another international break with no Orient, the rearranged game against Stevenage on a Thursday evening was to be my last one for two very long months. I had had some pain in my lower back ever since coming back from Bilbao but thought little of it as I dosed myself up on Ibuprofen and dragged myself to Brisbane Road.

The match itself offered very little in the way of excitement. It was settled by another Charlie Kelman goal in the 12^th minute, his 15^th league goal of the season and his 9^th since the turn of the year. It also made it two wins in succession after that miserable run of 5 defeats.

To be continued…

Up the O’s!