Part 1 –  Orient Nerd Season Review 2025/26 – Part 1: July to October 2025

Part 2 –  Orient Nerd Season Review 2025/26 – Part 2: November 2025 to January 2026 

We ended Part 2 of this season review with Orient desperately struggling for consistency. Their poor form having seen them drop to 18^th place in the League 1 table, just a single point above the relegation places. The January transfer window ended up being a desperate attempt to right the mistakes of the summer with a total of nine new players being added to the underperforming squad.  

All the loanees: Tommy Simkin, Tayo Adaramola, Jack Moorhouse, Alfie Lloyd and Joe White went back to their parent clubs. To be honest, with the possible exception of Simkin, who had demonstrated a level of ability despite some high-profile mistakes, and Jack Moorhouse who clearly has talent, for the most part they simply didn’t look up to the level required. 

The first new arrival was centre back Will Forrester who was joined soon after by loanees: Kaelan Casey, Ajay Matthews and the ill-fated Dan Bachman. A hectic Deadline Day saw the arrival of a total of five new players: left back James Morris, goalkeeper Tobi Oluwaymi, midfielder Dylan Levitt on permanent or short-term deals; as well as two more loan signings: goalkeeper Will Dennis and winger Favour Fawunmi. It felt like all change at the Orient, but would the refreshment of the squad spark improved performances on the pitch?

February 2026

February got underway with a rain-soaked trip to Edgeley Park, home of Stockport County where we had triumphed twice the previous season: 4-1 in the early autumn and most memorably winning on penalties in the play-off semi-final second leg that took us through to the final. It summed up the different seasons that both teams were having that while the Hatters were still very much in the promotion conversation, we were miles off the pace. Still, a hard-fought goalless draw away from home felt like a small step in the right direction. 

Due to our nonparticipation in the FA Cup second round (can you spot that I am still angry about being dumped out by Salford by the way?), our next fixture was a Tuesday night home game against Plymouth. Completely in keeping with Orient version 25-26’s consistent inconsistency we followed up the encouraging performance at Stockport with a 3-1 humbling at Brisbane Road. 

Despite us being largely in control for most of the first half, it was Plymouth that opened the scoring in added time at the end of the half with Bim Pepple poking home after we failed to deal with a cross into the box from the right (surprise, surprise!). Ollie O’Neill equalized just moments later, sliding home James Morris’ cross and we went in at the break all square.  

The second half was disappointing to say the least, just 7 minutes in the Pilgrims were back in front: new goalkeeper Tobi Oluwaymi spilled a shot from the edge of the area and Ronan Curtis was on hand to fire the ball home. Mathias Ross’ header from Curtis’ cross made it 3-1 with 20 minutes to go. Then Oluwaymi went down injured and had to be replaced by Will Dennis, our fifth(!) goalkeeper of the season. At the time the cynical side of my nature felt that it might be a “convenient” injury given how shaky the keeper had looked after his error for the second goal, however the fact that he didn’t appear again until Easter Monday suggests that he was indeed hurt. It finished 3-1 to the visitors and was yet another disappointing night in E10. 

Next it was a trip to Sixfields to face a doomed-to-relegation-seeming Northampton. Dom Ballard gave us an early lead seizing onto a hopeful ball over the top from Dylan Levitt, controlling it brilliantly and firing home with just 10 minutes on the clock. 

James Morris made it 2-0 early in the second half when he finished off a sweeping counterattack. Even though Tom Eaves pulled one back with half an hour to go, we held out thanks to some resolute defending and an excellent late save from Will Dennis. However, I took the victory as more a reflection of how poor Northampton were rather than a sign of our improvement. 

Sure enough, the following week we were beaten 3-1 at home by a Barnsley side that really weren’t that impressive. David McGoldrick opened the scoring for the visitors 10 minutes in, only for Dylan Leviitt to equalize with his first goal for the club- a clever free kick around the wall that caught the keeper completely unaware at his near post. Sadly, that was about it as good as it was to get from an Orient perspective. 

Barnsley started the second half with similar impetus as they had shown at the start of the match. McGoldrick made it 2-1 less than 10 minutes in, and then the veteran striker sealed his hattrick just past the hour mark. We mustered very little in response, the defeat keeping us very much in a relegation scrap. Analysing the match in the Birkbeck Tavern with some mates afterwards, the very real concern was whether the players themselves had the right attitude to fight their way out of the mess that they had put themselves in? The fact that it had been an early kick-off just added to the doom and gloom as we had the entire afternoon to fill. 

March 2026

After being defeated at home by a team from Yorkshire our next trip was to the self-titled “God’s Own County” to take on Bradford City. It came as little surprise (well not to anyone who had watched us this season!) that we fell to our third defeat in four matches. Antoni Sarcevic gave the home side the lead just past the half hour mark, only for Ollie O’Neill to equalize just before the interval. Despite being reduced to ten men when Aden Baldwin was sent off with quarter of an hour to go, Sarcevic sealed all 3 points for the home side racing past our defence and dinking the ball over Will Dennis. 

As I made my way to Stevenage the following Tuesday evening, I have to say that I was fully expecting yet another defeat and a thoroughly depressing evening, (to be fair when isn’t a trip to Stevenage depressing?). When Jamie Reid gave the home side the lead from the penalty spot after Sean Clare had hauled down Carl Piergianni midway through the first half, it simply provided confirmation that it looked like it was going to be a long evening to endure. 

For once though the players’ heads didn’t go down and we took the game to Stevenage. Just before half-time Demitri Mitchell broke through the middle and sent Dom Ballard racing through on goal, the young striker made no mistake, and we went into the break with the score 1-1. 

10 minutes into the second period Ballard was at it again, this time reacting first to a cross from the left from James Morris and nodding it past Filip Marschall in the Stevenage net for 2-1. For once we could, and perhaps should, have extended our lead, Ballard spurning an opportunity to put the game beyond doubt when his effort was tipped over by Marschall late on. 

The following Saturday we welcomed Peterborough to Brisbane Road. Jack Simpson turned home a ball across the box from Charlie Wellens just before the break to give us the lead. However, we were unable to build on it until 10 minutes from the end when Theo Arhicbald tore down the right wing before astutely pulling the ball back for Tyreeq Bakinson to smash home from the edge of the box. It was the sort of crisp counterattack that had been missing from our play for most of the season. 

There was a brief flutter of concern when Jimmy-Jay Morgan pulled one back for the visitors with a header from a free kick (quelle surprise!) but we held on for our first back-to-back victories of the campaign. It had only taken us until the middle of March!

The following Tuesday we were off on our travels again, this time another relatively short hop to Southwest London to the new Plough Lane. Any thoughts of making it three wins in succession seemed to be disappearing at half time as we went in at the break 2-1 down to a Wimbledon side that seemed to be all over us at the end of the first period. Dom Ballard had given us the lead after quarter of an hour following in after Ollie O’Neill’s effort had hit the post. The hosts hitting back with two goals in quick session from young right winger Junior Nkeng.

Whether Wimbledon were tired or we were inspired, we started the second half with two goals in quick succession of our own. The first came from Ballard, (no surprise there!), after being set up with a beautiful ball around the corner from Charlie Wellens, the second from James Morris finishing off a break into their penalty area. 

With 20 minutes to go Ballard sealed his third hattrick of the season, and our third victory in a row, following in again like the goal poacher he is after Wimbledon keeper Joe McDonnell had spilled Theo Archibald’s effort from range. Suddenly there was a hint of positivity amongst the Orient faithful that had gone missing quite some time ago. 

For the home game against Wycombe the following Saturday I was on a football-watching mission with my dad and Our Kid in my former student home of Marseille, so was relying on the better half/ score updates on my phone to keep me updated on events in E10. The game was pretty much over as a contest after 9 minutes when Wycombe’s Taylor Adams was shown a red card for a foul on Dom Ballard as he was judged to be the last man. 

Despite being given an early advantage in terms of numbers, we only made it count when Wycombe keeper Will Norris let an effort from Demetri Mitchell squeeze through him and into the net after 19 minutes. In a frustrating manner we didn’t make the points certain until the back to fitness Idris El Mizouni fired home in added time. It may not have been completely convincing, but it was our fourth straight win. 

We finished March with a trip to Devon to take on Exeter. It turned out to be something of a frustrating 0-0 draw after our recent run of improved form. 

April 2026

The Easter weekend got underway with another trip to Greater Manchester, this time to take on Wigan Athletic. Unusually, this game was moved to the Thursday evening form the traditional Good Friday slot, with the official reason given that it would give both sides more time for recovery. The cynical amongst us of course realised that this was all about trying to encourage as many local fans as possible to turn up otherwise it would have clashed with the rugby league side’s trip to local rivals St Helens. Whether the switch of date and time effected the players in anyway is impossible to discern, but just like the stalemate at St James Park in the previous match it was short of very much in the way of match action. In the end we had to settle for a second successive goalless draw. 

On Easter Monday we were back at home and welcomed Huddersfield Town, it was to turn out to be another gutting performance. We somewhat fortuitously took the lead 20 minutes in when Radinio Balker headed Theo Archibald’s searching cross into his own net. After two matches without managing to score ourselves, maybe we needed all the help we could get? 

Maybe if we could have held out until half-time, things might have worked out differently but once again we conceded late in a half. As was so often the case throughout the season, it was yet another header from a cross that undid us, Bojan Radulović being the player left on his own to glance the ball home.

We were pretty much surviving in the second half until we entered added time, as the result of a head clash between two Huddersfield players earlier on, and if we are brutally honest our own badly disguised attempts at game management (read: time wasting) the referee, Mr Corlett, opted to add on a frankly ridiculous seeming 14 minutes. With play running on until the 16^thadditional minute Huddersfield were awarded a free kick. Tom James who had been “injured’ in the lead up to the free kick, was made to wait on the sideline until the kick was taken. Huddersfield of course played it into the goalmouth, we didn’t deal with it, and Ryan Ledson found the back of the net with the benefit of a fortunate deflection. How typical of Orient’s season so far! 

After that positive run of four wins on the spin, Orient’s form was drastically going off the rails again. Things weren’t going to get any easier though as next up was a trip to the hugely impressive league leaders, Lincoln City. Presumably because of the home form’s side, (most definitely not ours!) the kick-off was moved to 12:30, which sadly ruled the missus and me out of one of our favourite away trips, maybe that was a good thing in the end? 

The champions elect made easy work of the opening 45 minutes: the impressive Jack Moyland opened the scoring with a brilliant shot on the turn that left Will Dennis with no chance. On the stroke of half-time it was 2-0, Will Forrester unfortunately slicing his clearance past Dennis. 

When Dom Ballard pulled a goal back with just under 20 minutes to go it gave us a brief glimmer of hope, but we couldn’t find the equalizer we desperately craved. In the end the league leaders more than merited making it 25 matches unbeaten. It just goes to show even with a relatively limited budget what can be achieved with astute recruitment and an effective and well understood tactical plan. Food for thought for Orient going forward, if we could survive in the division of course. 

The rearranged game against Mansfield at home on a Tuesday evening should have provided the ideal opportunity for us to take a big step towards securing our safety. Nestled safely in midtable with no chance of securing a play-off spot and no way of going down, the visitors had absolutely nothing to play for. That however didn’t stop them from frustrating us. 

Neither side created very much at all in a game that felt as if both sides were going through the motions. Understandable from a Mansfield perspective, but from our point of view we really wanted the players to show the commitment and fight that had so often been missing throughout the campaign. Disaster struck on 30 minutes when Idris El Mizouni seemed to pull something and limped off the field to be replaced by Tyreeq Bakinson. As much as poor form had been an issue all season, we had also suffered an alarming number of injuries.  

We had one good chance with quarter of an hour to go when Dom Ballard pulled an effort across the face of goal, but in the end, we had to settle for another goalless draw. The only consolation I could draw as I made my way home was that at least it was a point, and survival was still in our own hands. 

Just four days later we had another ideal opportunity to secure our future in the third tier against already relegated Rotherham United. Entirely in keeping with the way the season had gone thus far, we somehow managed to lose the game 2-0. In many ways Harry Gray’s opening goal for the visitors encapsulated so much of what was wrong with the team’s attitude, as his speculative attempt was simply allowed to tamely trickle through and nestle in the bottom corner. Sam Nombe’s second half goal sealed our fate and condemned us to our sixth match without a win in succession. The victory against Wycombe felt like a very long time ago. 

Our final away game of the season took us to the seaside and everyone’s favourite awayday: Blackpool. The Tangerines had been in relegation trouble themselves, but a good run had pulled them away and they were now safe. The match was decided by Will Dennis’ unfortunate own goal when Dale Taylor’s penalty hit the post and ricocheted off our keeper and in. If it wasn’t for bad luck, we wouldn’t have any luck at all!

May 2026

Going into the final match of the season against Burton at home, the target was crystal clear: match or better Exeter’s result at home to Bradford and we would be playing our football in the third tier again come 2026/27. Failure to do that almost didn’t bear thinking about. 

We got off to the ideal start when Will Forrester bundled home Charlie Wellens’ corner with less than 2 minutes on the clock. So far, so good or so we thought. 10 minutes before the break Fábio Tavares pounced on a loose ball after Will Dennis had parried a shot and made it 1-1. Once again, we had let a lead slip towards the end of a half. 

Just 6 minutes into the second half Dom Ballard put us back ahead with his 23^rd league goal of a hugely impressive campaign, but once again we let the lead slip when just minutes later Alex Hartridge got the final touch on a free kick into our goalmouth. In many ways that just summed up our season: we simply never really got going. Thankfully Bradford beat Exeter 2-1, and we could all just put this underwhelming season to bed. 

In his post-match interview gaffer Richie Wellens was scathing about the way that the squad as a whole had performed throughout the season, as well as questioning the attitude and commitment of individual players, suggesting that it was a “weak group” and that “there are players in our dressing room that have wasted this season, wasted it” and as a result he felt he had “wasted a year of my management career.” 

Of course, it is impossible to argue that after the excitement and thrills of the previous season, this campaign was anything other than underwhelming. While we just did enough to stay in the division, the important thing now is to address and start to put right the things that went so wrong in 2025/26. 

A big part of our future rests on whether the one standout performer, Dom Ballard, is playing his football with us next season. If, as feels likely, he is off for a new challenge then we must make sure that the price suits us and allows us to build a much more cohesive squad and that we implement a style of football that allows us to challenge in the top half of the table. For now though, I think we would all prefer to consign this season to memory and hope for better next time out. Until then, cheers for reading, enjoy the summer break and the World Cup and…

  Up the O’s!!