After the frustration of the opening match of the league season at home to Sheffield Wednesday, it was vital that the players showed a response. They certainly did that in the trip to Wigan last Saturday with another encouraging performance, this time with the positive result that our efforts merited.

Scoring first, and early, felt important. While Tony Springett’s opener on 15 minutes was as much down to sloppy defending and poor goalkeeping by the home side as our own good play, it was no more than our front-footed start deserved.

Of slight concern was the way we seemed to drop our level immediately after taking the lead, allowing the Latics to get back into the game. Dara Costelloe outmuscled James Morris to a ball over the top and attempted to lob a seemingly stranded Nathan Baxter, only for his effort to land on the roof of the net. After his trials and tribulations the previous week, it was another tough moment for our left back. With Somto Boniface ruled out for a reported 8-10 weeks, it makes you wonder whether we might try to bring someone else in before the transfer window closes (slams shut?) on Tuesday? If not, we are either going to need Morris to find his form again, change formation, or repurpose someone else to fill in.  

Just before the half hour mark Wigan were denied what seemed to be an equalizer from Reggie Walsh, on loan from Chelsea, only for the assistant referee’s raised flag to come to our rescue for an offside. It was too hard to see from the away stand at the other end of the pitch, but it definitely felt like a relief. 

Just minutes before the break Baxter went down with an apparent injury. The cynical side of my nature decided that this was definitely tactical, as had been several other earlier “injuries” from both sides. However, once I saw Noah Phillips removing his substitute’s bib, it dawned on me that it must be serious. 

Phillips became the sixth (seventh, if you include Daniel Bachman) goalkeeper to appear for Orient in a league game in the last 12 months. It is getting to the stage where you simply have to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of the whole situation. Although we should be thankful that it didn’t happen the previous week when Richie had opted not to have a backup goalkeeper on the bench. Whether we see an eighth man between the posts in the next week or so will depend on the severity of Baxter’s injury, although I for one would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in the conversation between Richie Wellens and Killian Cahill on Monday morning!

Alfie Gilchirst came on for Morris at half-time as we switched to a back three. Whether this was a purely tactical move or based on the latter’s performance again we will never know for sure, but the West Brom loanee acquitted himself well in the second half.  

On 58 minutes, Yusuf Akhamrich doubled our lead after Jaze Kabia had nicked the ball from a Wigan defender from Demi Mitchell’s quick-thinking throw-in and unselfishly set him up. The young winger from Spurs seems to be growing in stature with every game he plays, and while our new striker and record signing, Kabia, hasn’t yet found the net in a league match, that is now 2 assists in 2 matches for him. 

For the last half hour, it was a case of seeing out the game and making sure we headed back down south with the 3 points in the bag. In fairness the Latics didn’t really threaten for the remainder of the match, and anything that came Phillips’ way in our goal he encouragingly dealt with fairly comfortably.

On Monday we got the news that Tyreeq Bakinson had joined fellow League 1 club Plymouth Argyle on a season-long loan. For me this is a bit of a headscratcher. Not because I thought he had shown enough (very much?) last season to warrant a first team place, but more from the perspective that we knew that he was highly rated by Richie, but he simply failed deliver. I guess the arrival of Isaac Hayden and the pre-season form of Zech Obiero pretty much sealed Bakinson’s fate. With 2 years left on his contract, it will be interesting to see if he fares any better down in Devon, and if he does show much better form whether the Pilgrims will pay to keep him, or if a return to the Orient fold might be on the cards? 

On Tuesday evening we headed to Walsall in the League Cup. In all fairness it isn’t a game that will live long in the memory. A much-rotated Orient side (with 8 changes from the starting line-up at Wigan) struggled for cohesion, and despite mustering a total of 20 shots looked rather toothless from an attacking perspective. Intriguingly Richie opted for a back 3 again with Theo Archibald and James Morris as the wingbacks. As alluded to earlier, whether this was by tactical intent or forced by necessity will perhaps become clearer over coming weeks. Although yet another injury to Will Forrester might force the gaffer’s hand somewhat. 

In the end, neither side truly looked like breaking the deadlock and we headed to an inevitable seeming penalty shootout. Noah Phiilips did well to save Lewis Simper’s first for the home side and give us the early momentum, however that was squandered by Jaze Kabia’s woeful effort with our first penalty. From there every single player converted until Walsall’s seventh taker, Declan Skura, also saw his spot kick saved by Phillips. That left Joseph Olowu with the chance to settle the tie for us, which he duly did. It wasn’t pretty but we got the job done in the end, our seventh consecutive penalty shootout victory (with thanks to the font of all Orient statistical knowledge Barri Twinn for that fact!). 

Our reward for progressing through the second round is a slightly underwhelming tie at home to Bradford City, but if we can win that then there is every chance that we might get a trip to one of the big guns that would help to boost the coffers in the next round. 

Before then though we face Barnsley at home tomorrow afternoon before trips to newly promoted Bromley, and then Luton Town. While the win at Wigan was very welcome, these next three matches should tell us a bit more about our chances for the season. 

Up the O’s!