Orient won their third league game on the bounce for the first time since they last played Wrexham in the league in November.
Leyton Orient 1 - 0 Wrexham
Leyton Orient Starting XI: Brill, Ling (Brophy 58), Ekpiteta, Happe, Turley, Widdowson, Clay, McAnuff ©, Maguire-Drew (Coulson 88), Bonne, Simpson (Harold 84)
Wrexham Starting XI: Lainton, Jennings, Pearson ©, Kennedy, Young, Rutherford, Walker, Wright (Grant 6), Beavon (Oswell 70), Tollitt (Stockton 82), Lawlor
Summary
Orient just made one change from the winning team on Tuesday night with Turley coming in for Coulson who dropped to the bench. Gorman also replaced the injured Lee on the bench.
Orient started quick out of the blocks forcing a corner in opening minutes of the game. Turley missed his header from the corner but the ball found its way to Clay whose shot went just wide. Orient tried to find an early goal but it was Wrexham that turned to be the attacking team, with Tollitt drawing a foul from Ekpiteta and he received a yellow card. This looked like a battle for Ekpiteta as a few minutes later Tollitt got the better of him again and his shot flew past the post to go wide.
The game settled down and it was Orient who was next to have a chance. Simpson showed his skill by beating two markers and then crossing the ball for Maguire-Drew, his volley was hit first time and went agonisingly over the bar with the keeper beaten.
Two minutes before the break, Simpson was at it again showing the class he has, beating the opposition with more excellent skill, with his pass out wide finding Ling. His cross beat the defence and went straight onto Bonne’s head but he mistimed his diving jump and his shot went wide.
No changes were made at half time. Orient started the second half the better team and nearly scored. Happe picked the ball up in his own half and crossed the ball across the pitch into the box where Ling was moving forward. Unfortunately Ling’s touch was a bit heavy and he collided with the on rushing goalkeeper.
From the resulting collision, it looked like Ling had taken a knock and was soon replaced by Brophy in the 58th minute. This meant a slight reshuffle for Orient with what appeared of a change of formation, Widdowson moving to right back and Brophy playing on the left wing.
The switch in formation didn’t hold back the momentum from Orient as they were still the attacking team. Brophy produced a mazy run but unfortunately his cross into the box failed to find anyone in red. Though the Orient attack finally prevailed on the 72nd minute.
Brophy passed the ball into the box to Bonne who then passed it to Simpson, he tried to get a shot off but it came off a Wrexham player and fell to Ekpiteta. His first time shot took a slight deflection off a Wrexham player and into the net and Orient went 1-0 up.
The crowd started singing ‘we are top of the league’, but there was still nearly twenty minutes to play. Orient could have made it 2-0 when more excellent work from Simpson in the centre passed it to Maguire-Drew. He broke away with Bonne and Simpson either side of him, he went to pass to Simpson who would have been through on goal but his pass was over hit.
This was the last play for Simpson who looked to be tired and came off for Harold. Wrexham pushed forward in the last ten minutes but were struggling to break down the Orient defence. Brill had to be alert when a long shot from Wrexham was going in but Brill stopped it with one hand and managed to gather the ball from the save.
Orient brought Coulson on for Maguire-Drew to help the defence. Six minutes of injury time was to be played out but nothing of note happened and the final whistle went. Orient were top of the league again and won 1-0.
In my opinion I think the result was the correct one, I think we just edged it. I thought it was going to be a goal fest but the one goal was just enough with neither keeper really having too much to do. But it was great team performance and the back five were immense all game along with Clay. A number of players could have been given man of the match.
Ratings
Brill (7) – Didn’t really have much to do apart from one save
Ling (7) – Improved display by him, hopefully his injury isn’t serious
Turley (8) – Shaky start but was brilliant in the second half
Ekpiteta (8) – Struggled with Tollitt early on but was solid as the game went on and popped up with another key goal
Happe (9) – My Man of the Match, was brilliant all game and some excellent passing as well
Widdowson (8) – Another excellent game by him and didn’t faze him when he had to play on the right
Clay (8) – Was brilliant, helped the defence out all game and was everywhere on the pitch
McAnuff (7) – Another great captain’s performance, a few misplaced passes though
Maguire-Drew (7) – Showed some nice touches and was unlucky with the shot in the first half but also a few misplaced passes
Bonne (7) – Worked hard but desperately needs a goal, an in form Bonne would have got that header on target in the first half
Simpson (8) – Showed why he is a class above this division, some excellent skill and passes today
Subs:
Brophy(7) – Worked hard and brought some fresh legs against their tired right back
Harold and Coulson (N/A) – Both had little time to make an impact but helped see the game out
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