A quick and early set of musings this week, as I am off to the States in a few days for a rearranged baseball trip that we had originally planned for May (after the league season had finished of course!), but as so often seems to happen, life conspired to get in the way.

While I will be missing the home game against Stockport and the away trips to Plymouth (on the missus’ birthday no less!) and at Mansfield, rest assured I will be doing my utmost to educate any sports fans we meet in New York City and Atlanta in all things Orient.

Delving into cliché for a moment: what a difference a week makes! The lacklustre nature of the performance at Huddersfield was replaced with exciting and incisive attacking play that put Wigan on the back foot right from the start of the match. Admittedly the visitors were poor, but it was the energy of our play that was so different from what we had dished up just seven days previously.

Obviously having Omar Beckles back at the heart of the defence, El Miz controlling things from the centre of the park, and Ollie O’Neill looking lively and full of intent on the left improved us massively; but it was the way the team played as a cohesive unit that was the most encouraging aspect.

As is often the way, the opening goal proved so crucial. This one coming thanks to an unexpected source: Wigan central defender Steven Sessegnon who conspired to chest the ball past his own goalkeeper with Aaron Connolly lurking menacingly just over his shoulder.

The fact that our second goal, the first of the campaign from an Orient player, came from Josh Koroma back at “home” in E10 for the first time in six years, just felt right. The ovation all around the ground when he was subbed off 10 minutes from time felt very special and emotional.

Just after that things were to get even more miserable for the hapless Sessegnon when he was shown a red card for chopping down Aaron Connolly on the edge of the area. I read somewhere that made Sessegnon the first player in League One history (starting in the 2004-05 season) to both score an own goal and be sent off in the same match, and the first in the top four divisions to suffer the same fate since Jan Bednarek for Southampton in the Premier League in February 2021. A milestone I am sure he would prefer to forget!

So, just as it was important not to get too carried away after the defeat on the opening day, the same applies here. It was a much more encouraging performance and a deserved result, but we must make sure we build on the momentum in our next matches.

I will be back in harness ahead of the Northampton game at the end of the month, let’s hope there are many more positives to muse upon. Until then…

Up the O’s!