I am not going to lie; I was genuinely fearful going into Saturday’s trip to Edgeley Park to take on Stockport. Orient’s inability to find any semblance of consistency, combined with the fact that we were facing a team with genuine promotion aspirations, and who undoubtedly felt that they owed us one after we put them out of the play-offs on penalties last season; all suggested that it was going to be a very tough afternoon for the team from E10.

As we covered in last week’s post (Orient Nerd Weekly Ramblings: Panic Stations at Orient?) the sheer number of new players coming in during the January transfer window, a significant number of whom can be seen as definite first eleven starters, meant that we had gone through something of a reset. The worry was that just like at the start of the season, it would take time for the new recruits to bed in, so a trip to the team sitting in fourth spot in the table didn’t exactly feel like the ideal opportunity to steady the Orient ship.

We knew going into the match that one of our new goalkeepers, Will Dennis, was going to be unavailable due to injury, but all four of the other Deadline Day signings (James Morris, Dylan Levitt, Tobi Oluwayemi and Favour Fawunmi) went straight into the starting line-up, with newly named skipper Will Forrester back to partner Dan Happe at centre back.

Without wanting to get too carried away too early, I genuinely thought the early signs from the new additions were promising. Morris looked composed and calm, seemed to know where he needed to be defensively and got forward well on occasion. Levitt was busy and technically sound in the centre of the park and seemed to bring the best out of his partner Tyreeq Bakinson. While he didn’t have a great deal to do Oluwayemi looks absolutely huge and may well prove to have the commanding presence that we need from our keeper.

Undoubtedly though the most exciting of the new lads was Fawunmi, whose sheer pace and direct running with the ball really seemed to cause Stockport all sorts of problems. I have to say I am thoroughly looking forward to him getting fully up-to-speed and seeing what he can do to improve our attacking threat.

For me though the man of the match was Will Forrester, whose assured presence and very evident organisation skills have clearly improved our defensive unit. It seems almost ridiculous to say, being as he has played just three times for us and we know he has struggled with injuries in the past, but this may be the defender that we have been looking for, for quite some time. I must admit that I was slightly sceptical when he was made captain so early in his time with us, but his performance on Saturday made it completely plain why Richie Wellens deems him the man to lead the team. We just have to hope and pray that he can stay fit for what remains of this season.

Of course it is only a point, and slightly concerningly we didn’t manage to find the back of the net for the third consecutive match, but it just felt like a better team performance all round. However if this season so far has taught us anything, then it is to take nothing for granted and the only thing that matters is to follow up this performance and result with another, and another, and so on.

We of course have this weekend off thanks to Mansfield’s ongoing participation in the FA Cup (a poignant reminder that this time last season we had just taken on Manchester City!) but after that we face a pair of games in quick succession against teams relatively close to us in the table. First up is the visit of Plymouth who are 2 places and 4 points ahead of us, then next Saturday we go to Northampton who are currently level on points with us. Taking nothing for granted of course, if we can pick up maximum points from those two games, then maybe we can start to believe that we have finally turned a corner.

Before signing off for this week, and as a bit of bonus reading on this Orient-free weekend, here’s the link to the piece on last season’s fantastic FA Cup run (originally featured on this blog in the summer) for those who haven’t seen it yet, or those like yours truly that just fancy reliving it all again! – The Magic of the FA Cup Rekindled.

Up the O’s!