Having just returned from the other side of the “Pond” on a baseball trip that saw us take in four games in four different ballparks in two cities, it is time to focus back in on all things Orient. So what have I missed?

The League Cup tie at home to Wycombe was the very definition of a game in which little happened and certainly isn’t one that will live long in anyone’s memory. The fact that it was settled by a Jack Simpson own goal in added time kind of summed up the match as a whole. After all the fun of last season’s cup exploits, it feels a little frustrating that we fell at the first hurdle in one of this campaign’s competitions, however we really didn’t do anywhere near enough to win the game.

Going into the league match against Stockport, despite the much more encouraging performance against Wigan the previous weekend, I was always a little bit concerned that the Hatters would be out for revenge after we eventually triumphed on penalties in a hard fought play-off semifinal at the end of last season. When I checked my phone just before half-time and found we were 2-0 down it only served to seemingly confirm my fears.

A little later on when I discovered that Aaron Connolly had pulled one back with his first official goal for the club, much to the missus’ chagrin I then spent the remaining half an hour constantly refreshing the score largely oblivious to anything else that was going on around me. 

The sense of relief that swept over me when Ollie O’Neill snatched a point in injury time was obviously nowhere near the reaction that those at Brisbane Road would have enjoyed, but it nevertheless caused a few heads to turn in the Thai café in which we were having a quick pre-lunch drink.  Having said that though I bet Dave Challinor and his charges are growing a little tired of playing us at the moment!

We were on our way to Truist Park- home of the Atlanta Braves- while the match away at Plymouth was taking place. From what I can gather though it sounded like a hard-earned point, albeit without a spectacular performance to accompany it.

Quite what went wrong at Mansfield is anyone’s guess. Gaffer Richie Wellens blamed fatigue and a lack of professionalism by some players for not admitting they weren’t fully ready for the demands of the game, specifically the way he wants us to play. Maybe it can be explained as a bad day at the office and/or a newly assembled squad of players still trying to settle, but from what I have read and listened to the performance wasn’t vastly removed from the opening day capitulation at Huddersfield. Should we be concerned, or should we focus on the more positive performances we have put in so far and recognise that things will continue to improve given time?

On the face of it 2 wins, 2 defeats and a draw in our opening 5 matches is in no way disastrous. Certainly compared to last season’s start when at the same stage we had just 3 points thanks to a slightly fortuitous win at Reading, having lost our opening 4 matches including the abysmal performance at Shrewsbury.

The important thing now is to get ourselves back on track, and a much improved performance and (fingers crossed!) a win at home against Northampton tomorrow afternoon would be the perfect way to do that. For their part the Cobblers have managed a goalless draw against newly promoted Bradford and their first win of the season against Exeter City last weekend.  Plus we owe them one for that defeat at Brisbane Road back in March.

Perhaps the biggest positive from our start to the season has been Josh Koroma’s goals. It is fair to say that his return was greeted with mixed feelings amongst the Orient fanbase, but it is difficult to argue with his end product, especially in the absence of the out and out striker that we all know we are still chasing. It is of course still very early days, but Koroma’s 3 goals place him joint second in the goalscoring charts.

Here’s hoping that come 5pm (or however long afterwards given the vagaries of time allowed!) tomorrow we are all enjoying “Rockin’ All Over the World” ringing out around E10.

Up the O’s!