The fourth home game for Orient saw their second consecutive clean sheet with a 3-0 win over Dover.
Final Score: Orient 3 - 0 Dover
Leyton Orient Starting XI:Brill, Judd, Ekpiteta, Coulson, Widdowson, Dayton (Harrold 83), Clay (Gorman 70), Lee, McAnuff (C), Bonne, Koroma (Lawless 90+2)
Dover Starting XI:Walker, Passley, Connors, Lokko, Essam, Jeffery (Effiong 73), Brundle (C), Allen, Daniel, Schmoll, Tajbakhsh (Nortey 61)
Summary
Edinburgh stuck with same first eleven for the third game in a row with Lawless starting on the bench for the suspended Alabi.
Orient started slow and allowed Dover to have the ball during periods of the opening 30 minutes. You could see the O’s frustration coming through as a foul by Koroma resulted in him kicking the ball away in anger and getting booked.
Dover posed no real threat, with the back line soaking up any pressure with ease. Orient was showing some promise just after the 30 minute mark, as a nice bit of play, containing 15 passes, brought the ball to McAnuff in the penalty area but his shot went wide. Minutes later, Lee picked out a perfect cross-field ball to Judd, whose leaping header had the keeper scrambling, just managing to clear it away from an incoming Clay.
Lee continued to command the midfield with some excellent tackles, winning everything in the air and making some wonderful passes. On the stroke of half time, a Brill free-kick found Ekpiteta inside the box who headed across to find an unmarked Koroma, who volleyed towards goal but the keeper somehow kept the shot out.
The second half, with Orient unchanged, saw us immediately on front foot. The Orient faithful didn’t have to wait long for the first goal of the game. From a well worked short corner by Dayton to McAnuff, the skipper was allowed time in the box and his deflected shot went past a despairing dive from the keeper to make it 1-0 to Orient.
The O’s continued to press for a second goal with both Coulson and Bonne coming close with well hit crosses, missing their boots by inches. Despite Orient being in charge of the game, Dover should have equalised when they squandered a good header at the far post. On the 70th minute, Clay made way for Gorman, who was making his home debut.
Just before the 80th minute Koroma managed to turn his marker with ease and have a shot which just went over the near post. But he didn’t have to wait long for his second goal of the season. During the 82nd minute, a through ball from Dayton found the path of Koroma who slotted the ball past the keeper.
Later on, Dayton made way for Harold’s first home game since being injured. He almost scored just two touches into the game when a counter attacking run from Gorman found Harold on the edge of the box, however, unfortunately, his shot was stopped with ease by the keeper.
Orient sealed their third win of the season as a result of an injury-time cross from Judd which found Harold on the edge of the box and his looping header beat the keeper to make it 3-0.
Opinion
In my opinion, Orient produced their best performance of the season once they had initially soaked up some early pressure from Dover and found their feet as the game went on. Every player performed brilliantly and many of them could have earned Man of the Match. It makes a change, being happy about Clay and Lee, both were excellent and have turned the doubters away, for now at least.
Player Ratings
Brill (6) – Had a quiet game but improved kicking from him
Judd (8) – Has made the RB his spot now and showed his attacking skills with an assist
Coulson (7) – Another assured performance from and unlucky not to get a goal
Ekpiteta (7) – I think when Elokobi will have to settle with a subs place when he returns with Marvin in fine form again
Widdowson (7) – Most improved player under Edinburgh, another good performance again
Dayton (7) – Some good link play with Judd, another assist for him
Clay (7) – best performance in an Orient shirt
Lee (9) – my Man of the Match, great to see a fit Lee now, showing his class at last from playing in League 1 most of his career
McAnuff (8) – skipper always working hard and got his first goal of the season
Koroma (7) – unlucky not to get a hat-trick, just needs to cut out the silly yellow cards
Bonne (7) – worked his socks off, missed a few attacking headers from long balls
Subs:
Gorman (7) – plenty of attacking play from him straight away, looking forward to seeing more of him over the next coming weeks
Harold (7) – good to see him get a goal after his injury lay off
Lawless (N/A) – injury time sub for Koroma
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