The O’s gave the fans a slight scare in the their 4th pre-season game after conceding two early goals to a team in a league below but came away with a 3-2 win.
Concord Rangers 2 - 3 Leyton Orient
Scorers for Concord: Knott 2' - Boakye-Yiadom 12'
Scorers for Leyton Orient: Bonne 31', 56' - Koroma 83'
Concord Rangers Starting XI: Beasant, Pollock, Shaw, Blackman, Minshall, Sterling, Hayes, Green, Nana, Midson, Knott
Leyton Orient Starting XI: Brill, Judd, Ekipeta, Happe, Ling, Dayton, Lee, Lawless, Brophy, Alabi, Bonne
Summary
The game kicked off and we appeared to be on the back foot from the get go, we seemed a bit nervous against a very organised and well drilled Concord Rangers team who had ex-Orient player Sammy Moore managing them. They also had ex Orient players Frazier Shaw and trialist Aron Pollock playing against us.
Two minutes into the game the ball fell to Knott, he seemed to have lots of room and ran at our box. No one seemed to close him down and he had free shot from outside the box and it looped over Brill.
Ten minutes later we found ourselves 2-0 down, Concord took a quick corner which seemed to throw the Orient back line as no one closed it down. They swung a ball in which Brill seemed to flap at and Boakye-Yiadom had a free header to score into the empty net.
Orient seemed to finally work Concord out and by 25 minutes into the game, had turned up. Orient created their 1st real chance after a long ball found Bonne free on the left and he cut in to have a shot which just went wide.
This seemed to wake Orient up, two minutes later, Orient had halved the deficit. Another ball out to the left found Bonne who played a quick one-two with Brophy and Bonne was through on goal and slotted past the keeper at his near post.
Orient had a chance to draw level before the half-time whistle when they had a free kick which then found a way to Lee who could only tamely header the ball straight into the hands of the keeper.
One change at half-time for Orient with Sargeant coming on for Brill in goal. After a cagey opening ten minutes to the 2nd half, Orient equalised. A ball out to Judd who was having a good game, cut inside and crossed with his left foot. Concord’s defenders got themselves in a mess and headed straight down into the path of Bonne who had an empty net to smash it in.
Orient seemed to control the rest of the game, both Ekipeta and Happe were reassured at the back and both impressed. Lee stringed a few good passes thoughout the game. There was good hold up play from Alabi which allowed Bonne the space to run at the defence. Both wingers and full backs worked well together.
There was a couple of 2nd half substitutions for Orient, Widdowson just after the hour mark for Ling, Koroma for Dayton on 68 minutes and Mooney for Alabi on 77 minutes.
Orient seemed for likely out of the two teams to get a winner, which came on the 83rdminute. Lee had a long throw on the left which seemed to be half cleared by Concord’s defence but found Koroma at the far post who volleyed home for the win.
The last ten minutes saw a few strong challenges made by both Lee and Lawless with Lee getting booked for one of them but Orient were under control until the final whistle.
Opinion
Edinburgh wanted to play against a tougher team, he certainly got that. It showed our mental capacity to come back from two goals down to win 3-2, so he should be happy with that.
Centre midfield is personally a worry for me, both Lawless and Lee seemed to struggle with their quick midfielders and will get found out against better opposition. Good to see Bonne and Koroma on the score sheet and to see seven of our players get 90 minutes under their belt with no injuries.
Team Ratings
Brill 6 – Some good long kicking but maybe was at fault for Concord’s 2nd goal.
Judd 7 – Good assist and played well all game, linking up well with Dayton.
Ekipeta 8 – Man of the match for me, solid and was always talking to midfield and defence.
Happe 7–Made a very good partnership with Ekipeta and strong in the air.
Ling 7 – Good performance considering he is right footed playing left back.
Dayton 6 – Some good runs and good crosses, will get better with more game time.
Lee 6 – Some good passes, but some went astray when easier passes were around.
Lawless 5 –Not sure what he did today, hope he gets better now and to full fitness.
Brophy 7 – Struggled early on, but came into it and made lots of his direct runs and got another assist today.
Alabi 6 – Good hold up play and battled well. He is a physical player which we missed last season.
Bonne 7 – A few missed headers early on but another two goals to add to confidence
Subs:
Sargeant 6 – Had nothing to do apart from a few kick clearances
Widdowson 6 – Assured appearance and linked well with Brophy
Koroma 7 – Showed his versatility today by playing on the wing and still scored
Mooney 6 – Wasn’t on long but did his bit for the team