As a relatively new recruit to the Orient cause, up until this season I hadn’t as yet had the experience of watching the O’s take on one of the top division teams in the FA Cup. I was at the Valley back in 2006 when Orient unluckily lost to Premier League Charlton, although that was more of a day out with friends. Of course I was very much “in the other camp” for the Téhoué equalizer and subsequent replay at the Emirates against Arsenal in 2011.

My Orient FA Cup “record”, so to speak, had up until now encompassed: an elimination in the final qualifying round at Maidstone United, being giant-killed by the “might” of Maldon & Tiptree, losing to Newport County behind closed doors, finally making it through to the third round only to be drawn away at Stoke – hardly the most inspiring venue, a first round exit at Crewe, and losing away at National League Chesterfield in the snow. Not exactly the kind of games that childhood dreams are made of!

When we were drawn away at Boreham Wood in the first round of this campaign, I have to confess I more than half expected to add another early exit to the catalogue of disappointments outlined above. When we allowed the Wood to come back from two goals down to force extra time and penalties, I was utterly convinced that it must have been me that was the jinx. If I didn’t stop going, then I would be condemning all Orient fans to an ongoing series of humdrum exits from the world’s oldest cup competition.

However I was reckoning without the superpowers of one Josh Keeley. Going into the penalty shootout the young loanee goalkeeper, making only his fifth start for Orient, just seemed to exude a confidence that suggested he was someone we could rely on to challenge and alter fate. It really was no surprise when he saved the Wood’s first effort and paved the way for our progression with Ethan Galbraith eventually converting the decisive spot kick.

As if winning a penalty shootout to save our blushes against non-league opposition away from home wasn’t thrilling enough, the second round was to bring even more drama and yet more heroics from our goalkeeper. As anyone who was there will remember, the match against National League Oldham Athletic was far from being a classic encounter. As we headed through added time at the end of an attritional 90 minutes, our FA Cup fate was once again hanging in the balance as we trailed to a 47^th minute “ghost goal” awarded to huge defender Manny Monthé.

However cometh the hour, (or the 9^th minute of injury time to be precise!), cometh the heroic goalkeeper with a flair for the spectacular. Keeley sought permission from the bench to go up for a free-kick and arrived at precisely the right moment to rescue us again: this time finding the back of the net via a combination of his head/shoulder. It was unlike anything I have ever seen at a football match before; the missus had actually made her way towards the exit only to return at precisely the right time to see Keeley work his magic. The fact that Dan Agyei dramatically won the tie for us with a close range finish in time added on at the end of extra time merely added to the drama.

Our reward for squeaking through the first two rounds was a home tie against Championship side Derby County, a team that we had been humbled by, losing 3-0 both times, when we had met them in League 1 the previous season. It perhaps wasn’t the glamour tie that we had all been hoping for, but then FA Cup fate intervened again.

Disappointingly the game, which had been given a simply ridiculous kick-off time of 6pm for the benefit of the no doubt absolutely massive overseas TV market, fell foul of a frozen pitch. While it meant an Orient-free Saturday for the most famous round of the FA Cup, when the draw for the fourth round was made on Sunday evening, it pitted the winner against the Abu Dhabi-backed, winner of the previous four consecutive Premier League titles, recent Champions League winners and reigning World Club Champions, Manchester City. Cup ties don’t get bigger than that!

Even though that potential fixture was to be at home with no prospect of a money-spinning replay thanks to their abolition to pander to the whims of the game’s elite; it is fair to say that the draw added a huge dose of excitement and anticipation to the rescheduled fixture the following Tuesday evening. However, there was still just the small matter of a team from the second tier to overcome if we were to make that dream tie a reality.

As the missus and I set off for the match, it was more out of a sense of hope than expectation. However as we all know, just once in a while this magical game of football throws up one of those occasions that reminds us all why we fell in love with the game in the first place. Those games that see you coming out of the ground absolutely buzzing, physically shaking from the pure emotion and excitement of what you have just witnessed, and so it was to prove over the course of the next two and a half hours or so.

Despite some significant fitness issues, the O’s started the match like an absolute train getting at Derby, putting them under pressure and even carving out a couple of early chances. The frontline supported by the orchestral conductor-like Jamie Donley were lively and full of running and invention, Sonny Perkins in particular looked like a player transformed. When we took the lead after 20 minutes through Charlie Kelman’s emphatic finish it was exactly what our lightning start deserved.

When Dajaune Brown equalized for the Rams just four minutes later, I have to confess that I had a bit of a sinking feeling, that despite our best efforts it was all going to come to nought and Derby’s class was going to shine through. However I should have known that Richie Wellens’ ever evolving Orient side is made of tougher stuff.

From that point forward we stood firm against our higher ranked opponents. We battled, harried, tackled and chased every ball as we more than matched Derby all the way through the ninety minutes and into extra time. Even losing Sean Clare to an inevitable seeming second yellow card in the second period of extra time couldn’t derail us and we headed to penalties. 

Both sides converted their first five spot kicks and then you just knew if either of the keepers was going to decide the game, then Keeley was the one you’d put your money on. The kidology that had seen him “checking the notes” on his water bottle through the first five penalties showed once again the confidence the young shot-stopper has.

Callum Elder’s penalty was at a nice enough height but still needed saving and it was no surprise when Keeley did just that, meaning that when Zech Obiero converted his penalty we had pulled off the upset!

So, on to City. We could literally feel the tension and excitement in the air as soon as we exited Leyton tube station. The very early kick-off time and the slate grey skies adding both a surreal feeling and ramping up the anticipation. Even the recent matches against Braintree and Crewe to seal promotion and the league title, as fantastic as they undoubtedly were, didn’t seem to have the same intensity to them.

In a vain attempt to calm our nerves we paused briefly in Kapture, then the Coach to rendezvous with “cousins-in-law” Paul and Mike and long-time Orient associate Rob, before heading down to the Supporters Club. As we rounded the corner into Oliver Road, the scene was like nothing I have ever seen before at Brisbane Road. There were people everywhere waiting to catch a glimpse of Pep Guardiola and his multi-million pound squad. 

The missus got talking to a couple of older Orient supporters who were close to tears given the whole emotion of the occasion. Could we really have believed in the darks days of 2017 that just eight years later we would be in League 1 and welcoming a team of Manchester City’s stature?

Going into a match against a team of City’s calibre, with a manager who has won the lot (and more than once it has to be said!), despite their relatively poor form over recent months; there was always the fear that we would be outclassed, humbled by a team with much greater financial resources and quality even if picking their second string, and that the match would be over as a contest before it even really got started.

Right from the kick-off you could feel that wasn’t the case. The Orient players, no longer cowed by the “little Leyton Orient” tag stood toe to toe with their much more vaunted opponents. There was a steeliness about us that seemed to unsettle the City players, I guess this was something they weren’t used to in the Premier and Champions Leagues where the match officials tend to be more protective.

Then in the 16^th minute came the moment that still gives me goosebumps writing about it now a good few months later. Sonny Perkins outmuscled (not a phrase I ever thought I would be writing this season!) new City midfield “enforcer” Nico Gonazalez and the ball broke to Jamie Donley.

We already knew that the on-loan Tottenham midfielder has a tendency towards the sublime but what he did next almost defied belief. Instead of controlling the ball and looking to keep possession, Donley sized up a shot from just inside the City half, executed it perfectly squeezing his lobbed effort between the desperate upstretched hand of Stefan Ortega and the crossbar, the ball eventually hitting the back of the City keeper and rolling into the net. It was both a stunning and audacious piece of skill and sparked sheer unadulterated pandemonium around Brisbane Road.

After that there was always the worry that City would come back at us, but we just about held on until half-time, when we could pause and regather ourselves and our frayed nerves. Just before the restart, realising that he needed to change something, Guardiola replaced both his centre backs, bringing on John Stones and Abdukodir Khusanov in place of Vitor Reis and Rúben Dias. I took it as a sign that he was more than a little concerned about the problems we were causing his rearguard.

Two minutes later City equalized, rather fortuitously it has to be said, when Rico Lewis’ effort ricocheted off Khusanov and into the net. Even then all around Brisbane Road still believed.

In the end Guardiola had to turn to two of his very big guns, introducing Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden with just over quarter of an hour to go. It was the latter that made the difference ghosting onto a clever through-ball from Jack Grealish and flicking the ball beyond Keeley. Strangely even though I knew that was the end of the dream, I didn’t feel downhearted in the slightest, just proud of our players and the run they had been on.

After the match none of the Brisbane Road faithful wanted to go home, instead we partied long into the afternoon and early evening as if we had pulled off the mother of all upsets. It wasn’t just about the performance, or the cup run, it was about how far this incredibly special football club has come, and where we might be headed in the future.

Up the O’s!