On Friday, the O's took a step further to confirming their National League status for another season with a 3-1 victory over rock bottom Guiseley, a result that took the East Londoners up to 12th on 50 points, 14 behind the playoffs and 5 behind 11th placed Dagenham & Redbridge.
Guiseley 1-3 Leyton Orient
Widdowson OG, 76' McAnuff 48', 75'
Mooney 95'
Friday 30th March 2018 | Vanarama National League | Nethermoor Park | Attendance - 1,126
A poor first half performance was followed up by an exceptional second half display by Justin Edinburgh's men. Jobi McAnuff's exceptional free kick opened the scoring after the break, a shot that stunned O's fans as it hit the back of the net.
Later, McAnuff put the O's two goals ahead with 15 minutes remaining with a good solid strike past the Lions Keeper. Just a minute later, Guiseley broke and the ball ended up in the back of the net, from what I saw it looked like Brill miskicked it or the ball went under him but saying that Joe Widdowson got a slight deflection contributing to the goal. David Mooney rounded off a great day for Orient with a fine finish 5 minutes into added time.
Much better from Orient in our last two games, against Woking and Guiseley we have been very prolific and have created more chances and unlike at the start of the season we are finally converting from them.
Realistically I think we are now safe and it would be great to finish the season as high as possible, hopefully in the top half were now situated. It was good to see the likes of Arthurs Janata and Myles Judd in the matchday squad, especially after recent controversy with the clubs academy in which many young players are departing Brisbane Road. Both players were unused substitutes as well as Marvin Ekpiteia.
Rowan Liburd started for Guiseley today, the striker was on loan at the O's from fellow League two side Stevenage last season scoring 1 goal in 13 for the O's, a poor player in an O's shirt and he didn't really make an impact for the West Yorkshire side in this fixture.
The home side went down to ten men early in the second half, this helped Orient get a grip on the game with the advantage of playing with one extra man. Jobi had a good game yesterday, Bonne put in a good effort, Adams/Brophy impressed as usual and Mooney came on and made an impact. Great travelling support by our fans, just over 1,100 in attendance with no official Orient crowd (Probably because there was more away fans than home).
Hopefully, we can keep this momentum up in the next two games which are winnable, we could potentially move amongst the teams in the playoff race and if we play without pressure like all the other teams around us (as playoffs for Orient would be unrealistic considering the season we've had), we could get a few good results against the likes of Macclesfield, Wrexham and Hartlepool.
Player Ratings
Brill 5
Widdowson 5
Elokobi 6
Coulson 6
Ling 5
Brophy 7
Adams 7 (Koroma 6)
Clay 6
McAnuff 8
Bonne 6
Holman 5 (Mooney 7)
Unused subs-
Janata
Judd
Ekpitetia
League Table
The O's move up to 12th in the National League but have played a game more than most teams around them, the O's are 9 points off the relegation places and 14 off the playoffs with 6 games to go, a maximum of 18 points are up for grabs in the final month of the season.
Guiseley look in serious trouble following their 3-1 defeat being 15 points from safety with a -36 goal difference, the only positive is they have 2 games in hand over Chester and Solihull Moors who occupy the other relegation places alongside Torquay United.
In Conclusion
A great result and performance from The O's, we are really looking comfortable in the League table now, we return to action against Maidenhead United on Easter Monday at Brisbane Road in the Vanarama National League.