Three games, three draws, no clean sheets, four goals conceded. And they were sloppy goals to concede. All within five minutes of the game starting, the second half starting, or the game ending.
Against Salford the goal just after half time was soft, with not enough done to close down Danny Lloyd, giving him plenty of time to pick out Gaffney who volleyed home totally unmarked.
Against Ebbsfleet the O’s conceded in the dying minutes when they should have been killing the game off by keeping possession and running down the clock.
It is hard to find too much fault with the goal itself, because of the deflection that carried it just out of Brill’s reach. However, Charlie Lee let himself get turned by Whitely a bit too easily in my opinion as he tried to close him down.
It is not good enough to concede within the opening five minutes, as the O’s did against Barrow. Poor defending allowed Turner, who played the through ball, to run into a dangerous area far too easily. Too many players were ball watching as Hindle broke through the middle and scored.
The second in that game, a real hammer blow in the 85th minute, was similar to a goal we conceded against Maidenhead last season. Brill came for a corner and missed the ball, allowing an easy tap in to the man behind.
These are especially frustrating goals, not just because of the sloppy defending, but because they all came just after the start, or just before the end of the half. The best teams don’t let in goals like these, they score them!
If the defence had been a bit more switched on against Salford and Barrow, we could well have taken six points from those games instead of two.
This is not all doom and gloom though. There’s a lot to be positive about, including the excellent chances the players are creating. Bonne has opened his account, and Alabi and Koroma will almost certainly follow him in that soon.
We are one win away from our winless run becoming an unbeaten run. We have to remember that whilst we flew out of the blocks last season, with five wins in our first eight games, we also lost 6-1 to Bromley. That early run of form gave way to a horrendous three month long winless slog.
Whilst the O’s are being punished for making errors, they are not causing us to lose and that is so important in this league.
Tranmere took a while to get going last season and went up through the play offs. Ebbsfleet also drew a lot of games last season and made it to the playoffs as well.
However, Wrexham did not - despite losing only ten games. Which shows how precious wins, rather than draws, are at this level.
To avoid the Dragons’ fate, we need to start shutting teams out and holding onto our leads. That will need focus and organisation. Edinburgh has instilled both in the team once before, he will do it again.
Victory at Maidstone would go a long way to settling nerves and getting Orient firmly on the right track.
