Non-League Day was celebrated with a sold out game and we witnessed a thrilling 0-0 draw to keep the pressure on the teams at the top of the table.
Leyton Orient 0 - 0 Hartlepool United
Leyton Orient Starting XI:Brill, Judd (Ling, 70), Ekpiteta, Coulson, Widdowson, Dayton (Harrold, 80) McAnuff ©, Clay, Brophy (Koroma, 70), Bonne, Alabi.
Hartlepool Utd Starting XI: Loach, Donaldson, Kioso, Davies ©, Magnay, Kitching, Featherstone, Noble (Newton, 87), Woods (Hawkes, 81), Muir, James (Dinaga, 82).
Orient made one change from last week’s winning team. Lee was rested for Brophy with McAnuff moving into centre midfield. Koroma was fit enough to make the bench and was joined by Lawless as well, whilst Gorman was on international duty.
Orient started the game with some early possession but it was Hartlepool who created the first chance by shooting from 25 yards out but his shot went well wide. It wasn’t long before Orient created their first chance, Dayton received the ball and had a few options in front of him but decided to go on his own but his shot flew over the bar from 25 yards. Five minutes later, some good build-up play by Orient found Dayton and he shot over the bar once again.
Orient were close once more and just minutes later, when Widdowson and Brophy combined to cross for Bonne but , unfortunately, his shot went wide. With ten minutes of the half remaining, Brophy was in space and crossed for Clay who curled his shot wide. Orient seemed to be creating a lot of chances but was failing to work the Hartlepool goalkeeper.
The last five minutes ended with Orient still attacking the Hartlepool goal. Dayton received the ball in acres of space like most of the first half and got his head down and ran at goal before flying a goal-bound shot but it was deflected out for a corner by a defender. With a minute of the first half to go, Orient had a free kick taken by McAnuff and floated it into the box, Ekpiteta knocked it down for Clay who miscued his shot wide.
Orient started the second half quickly and put Hartlepool on the back foot straight away and was unlucky not to be leading. Brophy managed to get the better of his opposing defender and put the ball across the face of the goal but no Orient player managed to poke the ball away into the empty net.
The game was to turn on its head in the 50th minute when a long ball was collected by Widdowson, he lost the ball and went to retrieve it but, in doing so, lunged at the Hartlepool player, Woods, and both players fell down injured.
In my opinion, sitting in the East stand, behind the incident, it looked like a yellow card at worse, it didn’t help the ref’s decision with all the Hartlepool players surrounding him and jesting him to send Widdowson off. Once all the commotion had calmed down, Dayton was booked for protesting and Orient was down to ten men off with our left-back getting his marching orders.
This seems to galvanise the team and the sell-out crowd of home fans. Orient reverted to three at the back. Shortly after the sending off both McAnuff and Featherstone for Hartlepool received yellow cards as the temperature of the game seem to rise with a few rash challenges coming into the game.
McAnuff had a free kick after Ekpiteta was fouled on the edge of the box which went agonisingly wide. A few minutes later, Orient finally worked the goalkeeper. Bonne had done well by closing Hartlepool down, winning the ball back and passed the ball to Alabi who took one too many touches and shot at the goal but Loach was equal to it with his feet. Seconds later, Orient had an even better chance with Clay working the ball to Brophy but he was unable to keep his composure and shot wide.
On the 70th minute Orient made a double substitution with Ling on for Judd, who was on yellow card, and Koroma came on for Brophy. The subs seem to give the team a bit of a lift and you wouldn’t know Orient were playing with 10 men as they still seemed to be in control of the match and were unlucky not to score when an Ekpiteta's header was tipped over by Leach.
With ten minutes to play Edinburgh decided to throw caution to the wind and bring on Harold for Dayton, which meant we had two strikers on the wings and two up front, considering we were down to ten men I thought this was very bold move but a good one as Hartlepool had simply not threatened our three man defence.
Just before the 90 minutes were up, Koroma came into the game and had a shot from 30 yards out that seem to rise all the way. The fourth official put the board up for six minutes. The crowd got noisier but it was Hartlepool that nearly won the game, when a powerful strike from Dinanga nearly caught out Brill. But he kept his concentration and palmed the ball away to the side of the pitch, they managed to keep the play alive, substitute Newton had a shot but was denied by the post.
Orient then threw the kitchen sink at Hartlepool and Koroma had another shot from distance but was deflected wide for a corner. The resulting corner was taken and ended in nothing. The ref then blew for full time.
Opinion
In my opinion, the game was a sell out on non-league day with O nuts selling well, free beer for the first 1500 fans in the ground. A game in which the away team came for a draw and Orient who played even better with 10 men and were unlucky not to win.
Player Ratings
Brill (7) – some poor kicking but kept his concentration with the save right at the end
Widdowson (6) – played well until his sending off which I thought was harsh
Judd (7) – another good performance
Coulson (7) – solid at the back especially when there was three at the back
Ekpiteta (8) – Brilliant at the back, quite advanced as well when we went to three at the back, my Man of the Match
Brophy (7) – Created a few good chances, can’t wait till he is 100% fit
Dayton (6) – Was wasteful with a few shots, none worked the goalkeeper
McAnuff (6) – worked hard but was one of his quieter games
Clay (8) – close to get Man of the Match, was solid in defending and attacking
Bonne (6) – ran a lot to close down defenders and won a fair amount of headers
Alabi (6) – had one clear cut chance and squandered it by taking one too many touches
Subs:
Ling (6) –slotted in well as one of three defenders and used his long throw to good effect, should get a run of games at left back with Widdowson’s suspension
Koroma (6) – was a bit quiet until the last five minutes
Harold (N/A) – not on the field long enough to influence the game
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