Orient return back to their league campaign after a week off and beat Chesterfield 3-1 in their last home game of 2018.
Leyton Orient 3 - 1 Chesterfield
Koroma (8), Ekpiteta (62), Bonne (85, pen)
Kiwomya (35)
Leyton Orient Starting XI: Brill, Ling, Ekpiteta, Coulson, Widdowson, Brophy (Harold, 87), Lee (Gorman, 79), Clay, McAnuff ©, Bonne (Alabi, 90+1), Koroma.
Chesterfield Starting XI: Burton, Binnon-Williams, Evans, Weston, Shaw, Hollis, Muggleton (Beestin 45), Smith ©, Amantchi, Denton (Ofoegbu 76), Kiwomya (Rowley 66)
Summary
Orient brought in Brophy for the injured Dayton, Lee made his first start since being injured replacing Gorman as Orient looked to get back to winning ways in the league.
Chesterfield had ex Orient loan player Binnon-Williams in their starting eleven.
Orient kicked off and began brightly and didn’t have to wait long for the opener. They looked most dangerous down the left and that’s where they would find the goal. A long ball found Koroma, he evaded his marker and brought the ball into the box, went past two defenders and shot low and hard into the net beating the goalkeeper at his near post.
Orient looked to get a second and went close when Ling latched onto a pass from Brophy but snatched his shot wide. Chesterfield were growing in confidence and were looking for an equaliser. They went close when Kiwomya collected the ball but his shot went wide when in an easy position to trouble Brill.
But Kiwomya didn’t have to wait long to get his goal. Kiwomya played the ball out to Shaw, who then crossed the ball for Kiwomya to have a free header in the box and into the net with Brill rooted to his line.
Orient began to focus and stopped Chesterfield gaining control of the game. No team had any more chances and referee blew his whistle for half time.
Orient began the second half the better team, a long ball saw Bonne one on one with the goalkeeper, his shot was parried to the advancing Koroma who had a snap shot but a covering defender cleared the ball off the line.
Chesterfield nearly took the lead, when a corner found Denton whose header down seemed like it was going in, but it hit Brill in chest and thankfully he was able to collect the ball before it trickled over the line.
That chance made Orient look to get their own second goal and didn’t have to wait long after Chesterfield’s chance. As a corner from McAnuff was met with a header from Lee that somehow didn’t go out of play and landed back into McAnuff’s feet on the wing, he brushed his defender off and advanced into the penalty box. His low cross was met by Ekpiteta who smashed the ball into the net for Orient to take the lead 2-1.
As the second half went on, Orient controlled the game. So much so that Chesterfield two most effective players were substituted off (Denton and Kiwomya) as they struggled to make an impact on the game. Bonne then had a chance to make it 3-1 as he out muscled one of Chesterfield’s defenders and was through on goal but his shot was saved at the near post by their goalkeeper.
Orient made their first change with Gorman coming on for Lee. Then Bonne finally got his 18th goal of the season. Gorman’s pass into Brophy’s run in to the box was stopped unfairly by a Chesterfield defender and Orient had a penalty. Bonne of course dispatched with power and precision to find the left hand bottom corner.
Orient made two late substitutions with Harold coming on for Brophy and Alabi coming on for Bonne. With just injury time to play out, the referee blew for full time. Rocking all over the world came out across the speakers and Orient were top of the league for Christmas 2018.
My opinion is we played well against a team who was up on confidence after beating Salford in their last league game. Denton was always a threat but with Lee doubling up with Ekpiteta kept him quiet apart from one chance. Every player had a rating of 7 or 8 and was a great team performance. Orient maintain lose a game and respond with a win in the league. I think if we can get 7 points in the next three games, we could be nearly 10 points clear of Salford by the time we play them on January 5th.
Ratings
Brill (7) – could do nothing for the goal and was lucky with Denton shot, apart from that he was rarely troubled
Ling (7) – Back to his best, solid at the back and had a couple of chances to get his first Orient goal
Coulson (7) – Solid as usual and marshalled the defence
Ekpiteta (8) – Another goal and helped Lee keep quiet most of the game
Widdowson (7) – Mr dependable played to his usual solid self
Brophy (7) – In an unfamiliar role of playing inside right midfield, won the penalty and ran all game, think he will get better once he is used to this role
Clay (7) – Done well considering he got booked early on for a soft challenge
Lee (8) – my man of match, first game back from injury, kept Denton quiet considering Lee is half the size of him. Good to have his engine room back in the team
McAnuff (7) – Another captain’s performance, he was the first player to get everyone’s head up after Chesterfield equalised. Great run for Orient’s 2nd.
Koroma (7) – another special individual goal and unlucky not to get a 2nd
Bonne (7) – ran all day andhe finally got his goal at the end and on another day could have probably got a hat-trick
Subs – All three came on quite late and just helped us control and see the game out
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