Orient maintain top spot in the National League despite coming up short in a 0-3 defeat against Title rivals, Salford City.
Leyton Orient Starting XI: Brill, Ling, Ekpiteta, Coulson, Widdowson, Brophy, Lee, Gorman, McAnuff ©, Bonne, Koroma.
Salford City Starting XI: Neal, Wiseman, Touray, Hougan ©, Piergianni, Green, Walker, Nolan, Whitehead, Pond, Gaffney.
The Orient kicked-off attacking the north stand with an unchanged lineup from the victory on New Years Day however new signing Jordan Maguire-Drew found his spot in the match-day squad on the O’s bench.
The nightmare situation then arose for the hosts, despite conceding rarely from set-pieces this season, Carl Piergianni managed to head Salford into the lead after Tom Walker’s corner to give Salford a 0-1 lead after five minutes.
Events hastily turned from bad to worse for the O’s. Before they had a chance to gain control of the game, Rory Gaffney doubled Salford’s lead. Similar to the first goal, Brill beaten again by a header from close range within the first eight minutes.
After the lead had been doubled, Orient managed to grow into the game. James Brophy made his way into the penalty area from the right and was brought down only for the referee to give a goal kick, much to the frustration of O’s fans pleading for a penalty.
Just three minutes later Orient players and fans alike were left bemused and outraged by controversial decisions from the referee to book Koroma and Lee and to not show Piergianni a red card.
Koroma had been fouled by Pond on the edge of the box before facing an even heavier two-footed challenge by Piergianni after the whistle had been blown. The wreckless play resulted in a brawl where the officials saw fit to book Lee and Koroma before McAnuff’s free kick hit the wall.
To further infuriate the O’s faithful, the man in black, Richard Hulme accidentally got in the way of Charlie Lee’s pass in the Salford half and diverted it out of play for a Salford throw, much to the displeasure of the 6,696 home fans.
As the first half progressed McAnuff and Koroma both had powerful efforts saved by Neal with relative comfort. However, the closest Orient came to scoring in the first half was when Coulson’s looping header was scrambled out of harms way on the Salford goalline in the 45th minute.
With the O’s still pushing for a goal, Lee hurled a long throw into the area in stoppage time which was headed behind by Wiseman only for the referee to signal for halftime and not the consequent corner.
Justin Edinburgh’s side started the second half the brighter of the two sides when Koroma found himself bearing down on goal after being put through by McAnuff, however when Neal denied the youngster there was a growing feeling that it just wasn’t going to be Orient’s day.
In search of a turnaround, Edinburgh brought both central midfielders off in a double substitution just after the hour-mark. In their place came on Alex Lawless and debutant Jordan Maguire-Drew.
Within two minutes of the initial changes, Orient were forced into making their third of the afternoon when Josh Coulson went down and stayed down deep into the defensive half ensuring the defender had to make way for Dan Happe.
With the O’s unable to penetrate the back line of the Salford defence, Graham Alexander would’ve been happy for Orient to have possession of the ball. Clear cut chances were hard to come by for the men in red until Maguire-Drew stood over a free-kick 25 yards out with 13 minutes of regulation time remaining. His effort fell just wide of the right hand post.
To add insult to injury, Salford’s only chance of the second half then came from a free-kick three minutes later. Walker’s dead-ball delivery from the right-wing was met by Piergianni who scored his second header in a match where he could well have been sent off.
The third goal sealed three points for the travelling side, in spite of seven minutes of injury time, The O’s didn’t get close to scoring once let alone three times in the remaining minutes.
Player Ratings
Brill (4) - Conceded three times and made no noteworthy saves.
Ling (4) - Poor day at the office topped off with him falling over and giving away a goal kick after a failed cross.
Coulson (5) - Forced off before the third goal and the most solid of the defenders on the day.
Ekpiteta (4) - Poor by his standards, nerves seemed to have hindered his performance.
Widdowson (4) - One of many O’s players not performing at their usual level.
Brophy (4) - Showed intent when going forward but continued to lose the ball.
Gorman (4) - Struggled to break Salford down when he was on the pitch.
Lee (5) - Frustrated all afternoon, and it was evident with his reaction to being substituted.
McAnuff (5) - Showed the most threat of inspiring a comeback but didn’t have the desired impact.
Koroma (5) - Orient’s brightest spark as usual however his efforts still failed to find the net.
Bonne (4) - Had little service but was ultimately ineffective all afternoon.
Subs:
Happe (4) - Little different to the other defenders, and failed to help defend the third goal.
Lawless (5) - Didn’t change the game but is raising the question of if he should start over Gorman.
Maguire Drew (5) - Didn’t make his debut under preferred circumstances, showed a threat with his pace but little more than that.
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