The 2017/18 season saw Leyton Orient competing in the National League for the first time in the club's proud 136 year history. Now with the season at it's end here's a chance to look back on the campaign, featuring the good, the bad and the ugly as The O's finished just outside the top half in 13th.
To clarify these are my personal opinions and it should not be generalised to other writers at Everything Orient.
Pre Season (June/July)
Towards the end of June Lifelong O's fan and businessman Nigel Travis headed a consortium (Eagle Investments LTD 2017) to buy Leyton Orient following a season of Financial problems, Poor ownership relegation to the Football League and mass pitch invasion protests. Truly a fairy-tale ending to Orient's 3 years of torture under Becchetti, a new sense of optimism was injected into the East London born club.
Within days of his arrival Travis and vice chairman Kent Teague appointed Matt Porter (Chief Executive), Ex Player & Manager Martin Ling (Director of Football) and former Crewe manager Steve Davis who replaced Omer Riza at the dugout at Brisbane Road. When they arrived they had no idea for the challenge they were in for with no senior players just 13 youth players from the end of last season. Remarkably the club managed to bring in 15 new players in over a month, an outstanding job from Ling, Davis and all scouts at The O's especially as most players have spent their carers playing at Football League standard.
Pre Season kick-started with an emphatic 6-1 victory at Harlow Town, with goals coming from Mooney, Abrahams, two from Trialist Josh Taylor and two from Bonne. If you thought that result was a thumping the O's put 10 past Essex Senior side Burnham on the following Tuesday night, young star Tristin Abrahams scored 5! Pre Season continued with a 2-1 win at Greenwich Borough with goals from Mooney and Bonne, this was followed up by a 0-0 draw at AFC Hornchurch and a 2-1 victory at Isthmian Premier side Billericay Town. Pre season concluded with a 5-1 home defeat to Arsenal U23's at Brisbane Road in a game that didn't appeal to many O's fans as only 2,000 turned up.
Abraham's talents were then discovered and was signed by Norwich City later on in the transfer window, Josh Taylor rejected the O's for Sutton and Victor Adeboyejo who also impressed during pre season ended up at Barnsley after having trails with Chelsea U23's. Quality young players that I was gutted to see not stay in E10, victor in particular, the way he plays he would've destroyed this league.
August
P:7 W:4 D:1 L:2
The O's started the campaign live on BT Sport with an 2-0 away defeat to Sutton United, this was a massive reality check for the season ahead. The O's won 3-1 under the lights at Brisbane Road against Solihull Moors on a warm August night, goals from Charlie Lee, George Elokobi and David Mooney; then Steve Davis' men recorded back to back wins with a 2-0 win over Maidstone United at Brisbane Road through Mooney and Rommy Boco.
However Orient came crashing back down to earth, Bromley humiliating the O's 6-1 at Hayes lane, the only positive was that Maccauley Bonne recorded his first goal for the season, a first of many for the striker. Bonne continued to hit the net with two goals to help the O's to a 2-0 win away at Woking, then a 1-1 draw at home to Eastleigh, Craig Clay equalizing with the last kick. The month concluded with a 1-0 away win at Maidenhead on Bank Holiday Monday another goal by Bonne who's powering header found it' way in the net after 6 minuets. A pretty good opening month that saw The O's in the playoff positions.
September
P:6 W:1 D:1 L:4
Full of momentum after a strong August, the O's triumphed 4-1 at home to a shaky Guiseley side, goals from a Bonne hatrick (the first hatrick at Brisbane Road by an O for 11years) and new signing Matt Harold headed home late on. This result put the O's in second, level on points with top of the table Dagenham & Redbridge who had a better goal difference, sadly this was all about to change. The Os' slide down the table started with a 2-0 away defeat to Boreham Wood were Orient bought 1,500 away fans to the 1,900 attended game, outstanding support!
The O's then lost 3-0 at home to FC Halifax Town in a game where The o's dominated in the opening 45, but fell apart in the second half as the Yorkshire side came away from East London with all 3 points. Orient were chosen once again to be shown live on BT Sport, they lost 2-1 at home to Hartlepool in front of the cameras in an entertaining game which keeper Scott Loach kept the Pool's in the game. Orient came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Aldershot, Craig Clay scoring on the half time whistle and Rommy Boco earning The O's a point 7 minuets from time.
The O's ended the month with a third home defeat in a row with a 2-1 defeat against AFC Fylde, Jobi McAnuff's goal at 2-0 didn't revive another O's comeback. This was Orient's 6th defeat of the season, 4 of which in September.
October
P:7 W:1 D:3 L:3
The O's started the month live on BT Sport for a third time, loosing again 2-1 away to Tranmere Rovers on a Wednesday night, Matt Harold scoring for The O's. A 2-2 draw at Holker Street followed as the O's drew at Barrow, goals from Clay and Mooney around the 20 minuet mark, then two straight home defeats against Macclesfield and Gateshead.
Following Jordan Burrow's 82 minuet goal for Gateshead Davis Out started to echo around Brisbane Road, giving the impression the former Crewe manager was running out of time.
An eagerly awaited trip to Wrexham at the end of the month, a must win game for the O's, however Orient went behind within 30 seconds. But Mark Ellis' 86 minute header earned the East Londoners a point in North Wales which sent the 350 travelling O's into insane celebrations. A poor 2 months, not good enough form, even know O's fans were supportive of Steve, it was time he had to go.
During October the O's were drawn away to Dagenham & Redbridge in the 4th Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, a 0-0 draw in Essex was followed by a 1-0 win in the replay with Bonne grabbing his first goal sine September.
November
P:5 W:0 D:2 L:3
The O's kicked off November with an FA Cup tie at Gillingham, in the first round, 800 O's fans saw Orient exit the competition with a 2-1 loss at the League One side, James Dayton's late goal couldn't inspire the O's too a late winner. On Remembrance Saturday (11/11) the club paid their respects the those who thought in the Battle of the Somme at Ebbsfleet, a lacklustre performance from the O's which helped Ebbsfleet to a 2-1 win.
This was to be Steve Davis' last game in charge before departing E10, Matt Porter described recent performances as ''not good enough''. Ross Emblerton was put in charge of first team affairs until a suitable replacement was found. Things started to improve under Ross, a 1-1 home draw with Dover and a 2-2 draw with Chester ended a run of 5 home defeats. But a 3-0 defeat away at Torquay left the O's hanging just above the drop zone, probably the first time O's fans thought if things don't improve fast we could be heading for successive relegations.
December
P: 6 W:4 D:0 L:2
Orient's fortunes were about to change when they appointed former Tottenham left back and former Gillingham manager Justin Edinburgh. However despite only being manager 2 days, JE decided to take charge of our trip to Solihull Moors which we lost 1-0, in my opinion I think he should've let Ross take charge for that one as he'd only had one training session. Honestly, that was the lowest point for our club, a lot of people say Torquay away was but loosing to Solihull moors, playing with no creativity, passion and being just soulless was heart-breaking, going from Moluneix to Moors in 4 years.
But then the following week at home to league leaders Sutton, Orient ended a run of 3 months without a win with a 4-1 thumping, goals from Harold, Dayton and two from Bonne. Then the O's went on a run of wins, beating Haringey Borough in the FA Trophy, Maidstone 2-0 away in the league and Dagenham & Redbridge 2-0 at Brisbane Road. Unfortunately the O's couldn't finish the month with a positive result, loosing 1-0 to Bromley at home due to the controversial sending off of centre back Bondz Ngala costing the O's and maybe Bondz career he didn't play for The O's again and returned to Dagenham from his loan spell and hasn't really played.
Despite the Solihull result December was a great month, we got our winning mojo back and was now in need of a few additions in the transfer window to consolidate a solid season.
January
P:5 W:2 D:2 L:1
2018 started with a goalless trip to Dagenham, in which the O's bought over 1,400 travelling support, the attendance was just over 3,000. Another goalless draw followed at home to Boreham Wood, the following week saw The O's just about get past National League South side Bognor 2-1 in the FA Trophy after Extra time, Josh Koroma scoring the pick of the goals.
Orient suffered a 3-2 loss to Aldershot at home, which attracted a crowd of nearly 6,000, Bonne scored seconds in to the match and George Elokobi scored a great overhead kick from Jobi's corner to level the scoring at 2-2. The month concluded with a vital 2-1 victory at FC Halifax Town, Bonne and Koroma on the score sheet in the re-arranged fixture.
In the January transfer window the O's managed to sign East Thurrock centre back Marvin Ekepitia, Ebou Adams, Lamar Reynolds and Dan Holman. But on deadline day the O's bought James Brophy back to the club on a permeant deal after a successful loan spell earlier in the season, a great signing by JE and Martin.
February
P:6 W:3 D:3 L:1
February started with an FA Trophy 3rd round tie at Dover, after Matt Harold put the O's 3-0 up Orient hit the self destruct button and conceded 3 times within the last 20 minutes of play, but then David Mooney came to the rescue who's 93rd minuet chip sent the O's through the Quarter finals. Orient announced the signing of Sam Ling from Dagenham & Redbridge, the O's academy product re joined Orient after 2 years with John Still's side. Dan Holman's first goal for The O's came in a 1-1 draw at home to Tranmrere, then two 1-0 wins followed in the North west against AFC Fylde and Chester in midweek, goals from Bonne and Brophy (who else?!)
Then attentions turned to a FA Trophy Quarter final at home to Gateshead, after an excellent first half display the O's then once again let go of a 3-0 lead, conceding 3 times in the last 20 minuets to take it to a replay at the GIS. Orient lost the replay 3-2, a massive disappointment as this was the best opportunity of our club winning a trophy and to not be in the semi final after being 3-0 up on 54 minuets is just a case of Orient bottling it. However we struggled in every game so there's the argument do we deserve a day out at Wembley?
March
P:6 W:2 D:2 L:2
Just like in February the O's started with an away match at Dover, the only game on in the league due to the snow, Orient held out until 80 minuets when Pinnock's goal rounded off a 1-0 win for Dover. Then on O Nut day Orient drew 1-1 with Ebbsfleet at Brisbane Road. Then two poor performances beckoned, the first at home to Torquay loosing 1-0 and the second a 0-0 stalemate away at Eastleigh in the cold, windy temperatures of Southern England.
After 6 games without a win Orient finally got their mojo back (again), winning their first home game of 2018 with a 3-0 victory over Woking, goals from Brophy and two from Bonne. Then a great win on the road at Guiseley on Good Friday, Jobi McAnuff's free kick stunned O's fans in the 3-1 win.
April
P:6 W:3 D:1 L:2
Momentum from the end of March continued into April for the O's, inspiring them to a 4-1 win over Barrow, goals from Koroma, a brace from Bonne and an own goal. For the first time since November the O's were chosen for TV coverage, they travelled to League leaders Maccelsfield in an attempt to spoil their promotion party, it ended 1-1 with travelling fans stunned by how the O's didn't claim all three points. The O's failed to take advantage of several chances away to Hartlepool, falling to an unlucky 1-0 defeat.
Bonne's towering header helped the O's claim all three points at home to Wrexham, but in Orient's final home game, under the lights against Maidenhead, the O's disappointed fans loosing 1-0 to Alan Devonshire's side. Justin Edinburgh's men ended the season with a 3-1 away win at Gateshead, Jobi McAnuff's thunder strike sent the 400 O's fans home happy.
Season Evaluation
National League 6/10
As many O's fans at the start of the season I was a bit overconfident, I didn't think we'd walk the league but still at least get playoffs. We've done really well to recover our season considering we were hanging above the drop zone in December, we can thank Justin Edinburgh for that, however if we would've got a few more decent results we would've finished in the top half. But next season there are no excuses, we should be in the top 7.
FA Cup 6/10
As expected we got past Dagenham, even though on the day we gave Gillingham a game I'm not too disappointed we went out as they are two divisions above us so I cant really complain especially as it was a tight game. Hoping for a cup run soon though, memories of getting Premier League/Championship clubs and beating them provide memories most will cherish forever- the magic of the cup.
FA Trophy 4/10
Even though we got to the quarter final we made hard work of every game and I'm also frustrated that we let go of that 3-0 lead against Gateshead and then went out in the replay, it should've been done and dusted. Some will say there's always next year but next season they'll be harder teams in the competition, this season Wrexham, Aldershot and Tranmere all got knocked out early.
My end of season awards
Player of the Season- Macauley Bonne
25 goals this season for Bonne and international call ups, if he was an instinctive goal scorer he would have got 40 this season, brilliant season for him hopefully he stays with us as without him we lack goals in Harold and Mooney's getting older.
Most improved player- James Brophy
James had a good first spell at the O's earlier in the season, but since he came back in January he has been very consistent in his performances, we look dangerous when he's on the ball and especially in the final third. He's also been on the score sheet many times since re joining.
Best young player- Dan Happe
The young 6 foot 4 centre back has played 29 times for the O's, he's come on so much since his first game against Hartlepool in September, he has a bright future at this club, it's important that we nurture his talent.
Conclusion
Thanks for reading this article, its been a long, difficult season but a good run of results at the end of the season will bring us good hope and momentum going into an important pre season for the club. If I remember rightly in the 2012/13 season we ended the season in good form, the following season we reached the playoff final so who knows? If we bring in the right players, have a good pre season, continue this great vibe around the club, the possibilities could be endless....
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