AFC Flyde 1 v 3 Leyton Orient
Leyton Orient Starting XI: Brill, Clay, Coulson, Ekpiteta, Widdowson, Dayton, Lee, Gorman, McAnuff, Bonne, Koroma
AFC Fylde Starting XI: Lynch, Francis-Angol, Byrne, Tunnicliffe, Burke, Tasdemir, Bond, Croasdale, Haughton, Philliskirk, Rowe
Attendance: 2,142 (342 Orient fans)
A tremendous team performance from the O's secured all three points at in-form promotion rivals AFC Fylde and sent another impressive travelling support home happy.
Coming into the game both teams had only lost one game in the league and both boasted in-form strikers. The fact that the Coasters had also only conceded seven goals all season suggested it would be a tough test for Justin Edinburgh’s men.
The Os started shooting towards the South Paddock terracing where the Os fans were based. It was a good atmosphere in the away end of what is an impressive new stadium near the Fylde coast and also a strong case for safe standing facilities at more grounds.
The Os made two changes from mid-week. Joe Widdowson was back from suspension for Brophy at left back and Dale Gorman came in for the suspended Judd, with Craig Clay moving to an unfamiliar right back role.
Orient started quickly and took the lead after only four minutes. Gorman hooked a bouncing ball on in midfield and Koroma eased the Fylde centre back from under the bouncing ball. If truth be told it looked like a foul but the Os fans certainly weren’t complaining when the ref waved play-on, Koroma moved the ball inside to Macauley Bonne and he smashed the ball left footed into the roof of the net to move onto 13 league goals for the season.
Orient were playing well but had to make an adjustment after only 10 minutes when Lee was caught late in a challenge on the edge of the box and had to come off. Brophy replaced him with McAnuff moving into the centre of midfield.
The change in personnel didn’t upset the Os rhythm for long though and on 13 minutes a Coulson header from a dangerous Dayton free-kick was well saved.
The Os lead didn’t last much longer though as a scrappy period of play ended with the ball dropping to the National League’s top scorer last season, Danny Rowe, in space 25 yards out. He steadied himself and arrowed an excellent strike into the bottom right hand corner of the net to bring the sides level.
The set-back didn’t seem to upset the Orient too much though and they continued to threaten the Fylde goal regularly. On 40 minutes a spell of sustained pressure ended with the ball falling to Gorman on the edge of the box but his curled shot went just wide. A couple of Fylde long shots in response were well dealt with by Brill.
The Os were not to be denied a half-time lead though. Another spell of pressure – with a number of dangerous crosses into the box only being half-cleared – culminated in the ball being played across the edge of the Fylde penalty box in the 45th minute. Bonne switched the ball to Koroma on the left corner of the box but there didn’t seem too much danger for the home team with the youngster faced by 2 defenders. Koroma made light work of both of them though, feinting left before darting between them and into the box where he curled a shot into the far corner of the net to send the Os fans into ecstasy.
The start of the second half almost mirrored that of the first. With only 5 minutes played Joe Widdowson did well in the left back position to win the ball back and his long clearance was misjudged in the centre circle by Tunnicliffe for Fylde, sending Bonne away behind him. Bonne fed Koroma in the left channel and he galloped forward before firing a right footed shot high into the corner of the net. It was no more than Koroma deserved as he had looked a constant threat.
On 60 minutes Dean Brill earned his wages with a super save down low to his right from a snapshot to maintain the Os 2 goal lead. With Fylde committing more men forward in search of a way back into the game Orient had a few half-chances from breakaways but couldn’t find the killer goal. On 80 minutes the Os made a second and final change with Alabi replacing Dayton.
The game began to fade away in the final minutes with Orient comfortably seeing off the Fylde attack. There was time for one final chance when Brophy intercepted a ball and fed Bonne, who passed to Koroma but his hat-trick attempt was saved by the ‘keeper.
Overall it was a very impressive performance from the Os against what are clearly a good Fylde side. The home team moved the ball around well but without really creating many chances whilst Orient always looked a threat when in and around the box. Koroma will rightly get the plaudits for his expertly taken goals but it really was a case of everybody doing their job on the day and the team spirit in the camp does seem excellent at the moment.
Player Ratings
Brill (7) – some good handling and one great save in the second half. Kicking could have been better perhaps.
Clay (8) – showed his versatility by filling in at right back and putting in an almost faultless performance.
Coulson (7) – another excellent performance. Put his (massive) head on countless crosses and marshalled the back line well.
Ekpiteta (7) – Marv seems to be growing in stature game by game and handled the dangerous Rowe extremely well.
Widdowson (7) – slotted in again easily at left back. Defended stoutly when required and got forward well at times to put in some good crosses.
Dayton (7) – probably wasn’t his favourite sort of game being quite physical, but worked diligently down the right and showed good quality on the ball at times.
Lee (N/A) – only touched the ball about twice before unfortunately having to go off injured. Hopefully nothing too serious given his good form this year.
Gorman (6) – worked hard but not much chance to show his quality in a congested midfield but another to stand up well to the physical test.
McAnuff (7) – like the Duracell bunny he just runs and runs. Another strong performance from the veteran skipper with him popping up all over the park.
Bonne (7) – took his goal well and worked tirelessly against 2 man-mountain centre backs and seems to be developing a good understanding with Koroma.
Koroma (9) – two superbly taken goals capped an excellent all round man of the match performance. Full of running and the Fylde defence simply couldn’t cope with him at times.
Subs:
Brophy (6) – worked hard on the left of midfield and a couple of dangerous runs and crosses.
Alabi (6) – did his usual after coming on for the last 10 minutes – battling hard and caused the opposition defence some concerning moments.
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