Looking Ahead to the 2018/19 Season For Leyton Orient

The time has come, we are only a few more sleeps till the start of the new season. In this article we preview Leyton Orient's 2018/19 campaign, their second consecutive season in the Vanarama National League.

This image was published by Leyton Orient

Last Season 

This time last season, some O's fans were optimistic of a return at the first time of asking, however, some fans were still convinced the National League wasn't going to be an easy ride. Due to a limited pre-season, Steve Davis and Martin Ling built a new team and preparations were rushed with the new squad being unable to gel in time. 

After an impressive August, things turned for the worse for the O's. Orient went on a 15 game winless run which cost Steve Davis his job. A nice man, a good coach but unfortunately it didn't work for him as he played the wrong style of football and couldn't lift spirits after defeats in games where we dominated throughout. Examples of this include: Hartlepool at home, Halifax at home, Fylde at home and Gateshead at home. 

Justin Edinburgh came in and turned things around, getting Orient from 20th in the table in December to 13th and just falling short of the top half by the end of the season. Furthermore, Orient achieved a decent cup run - reaching the last eight of the FA Trophy and Edinburgh has revived players who lacked confidence and form under Davis. After a good run of form at the end of last season, many O's fans will be hoping that the team will be carrying on from where they finished last season.

Expectations For This Season

Despite a 13th place finish last season, Orient once again are tipped for promotion from the National League by most bookies as the east London club look to return to the EFL, two seasons after their 112 year stay ended. After a strong end to last season, a few key signings and a strong pre-season, O's fans will be optimistic coming into the new campaign.

 Due to Orient's squad depth, quality, the clubs stature and finances, there is no reason as to why they shouldn't be finishing in the play-off places this season. They have to be outstanding this season to win the league, so I think a top five finish is more realistic and achievable.

In terms of domestic competitions, I'm more concerned about getting out of this league. It would be nice to win the FA Trophy but I don't think we'd get a better opportunity to win it than last season. It's always amazing and memorable to have an FA Cup run, however, I am more focused on promotion but hopefully we can have a nice League 1 away day in the first or second round. 

My Strongest Starting XI

Sargeant; Widdowson, Coulson, Elokobi, Ling; Brophy, Lee, Gorman, McAnuff (C); Bonne, Koroma Subs: Grainger, Happe, Lawless, Dayton, Alabi 

Players To Look At:

M Bonne: Last seasons top scorer, hoping he's going to be back amongst the goals this season and firing the O's up the table.

J Alabi: After failing to impress at Tranmere, new signing Alabi will be hoping to prove his doubters wrong by being a massive part of Orient's promotion bid 

J Koroma: This will be a big season for JK, after impressing last season this is the year Koroma has to step up and take centre stage.

C Lee: After being injured since September, Charlie Lee will almost be like a new signing to most O's fans who are interested to see what the experienced midfielder has to offer. 

Written by Roman Quane

Edited by Tom Kelly