Sometime in the early 90's, I was an 11-year-old mascot for Leyton Orient in an FA Cup replay against Colchester United (I got photos taken with John Sitton, the then captain, and "Ooh" Terry Howard, terrace favourite, and also, incongruously, the autograph of Frank Carson, the comedian, who was a director of Colchester at the time).
Orient won 4-1, I recall, and today they also got four against the same opponents, although they didn't ask me to be mascot this time. It's understandable, I'm probably too old now.
After the 5-0 mauling Brighton dished out to us at the weekend, we needed to bounce back, and I thought Orient gave arguably their best home performance of the season. Coxy found acres of space on the left wing, Chorley was dominant in central defence and showed some clever distribution, and Jones made some good saves, although it could be argued that the two Colchester goals were softly conceded.
Highlight of the match was undoubtedly Paul-Jose Mpoku's 30-yard screamer near the end of the second half - well, it looked like 30 yards from the other end of the ground, anyway. In all honesty, we deserved the win - Colchester played OK and took their chances well, but Orient played the ball around well and created too much pressure and too many openings for the Essex Boys to handle.
Norwich up next for us in the FA Cup on Saturday, and I'm not expecting us to repeat the Colchester score in that match. Hope springs eternal, though.
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Showing posts with label League 1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label League 1. Show all posts
Monday, 3 January 2011
Friday, 17 December 2010
Leyton Orient v Plymouth. Postponed
The second home game in succession that has been postponed due to a frozen pitch.
They don't seem to have this problem in Sweden. A few years back, when I first started working on the railway, a fellow new starter told me he used to live in Sweden with his Swedish wife (a tall blonde, apparently, but that's beside the point).
In order to help learn the language and make new friends, he decided to join a local football team. On the first day of training, it was snowing heavily in temperatures of about -5, and he wore shorts and a t-shirt in anticipation of an indoor training session, in view of the obviously unplayable weather conditions.
The Swedes, on the other hand, being used to the snow, wore appropriate attire for playing football in it. It hadn't even occurred to them to bring training inside for a second. He described it as the coldest he had ever been in his life, and was then on known as the "crazy Englishman". Now, if they can do it...
No more home football til Boxing Day.
Incidentally, my girlfriend now thinks that "Plymouth match postponed" is some kind of a tongue-twister.
They don't seem to have this problem in Sweden. A few years back, when I first started working on the railway, a fellow new starter told me he used to live in Sweden with his Swedish wife (a tall blonde, apparently, but that's beside the point).
In order to help learn the language and make new friends, he decided to join a local football team. On the first day of training, it was snowing heavily in temperatures of about -5, and he wore shorts and a t-shirt in anticipation of an indoor training session, in view of the obviously unplayable weather conditions.
The Swedes, on the other hand, being used to the snow, wore appropriate attire for playing football in it. It hadn't even occurred to them to bring training inside for a second. He described it as the coldest he had ever been in his life, and was then on known as the "crazy Englishman". Now, if they can do it...
No more home football til Boxing Day.
Incidentally, my girlfriend now thinks that "Plymouth match postponed" is some kind of a tongue-twister.
Monday, 13 December 2010
Tranmere Rovers 1 Leyton Orient 2
Orient responded to the enforced absence of Forbes and Chorley, our regular centre back pairing, with an important away win over the men from Birkinhead - important because it leaves Tranmere stuck just above the relegation zone, and drags us up to 16th (although still only 2 points off the drop).
Also important was the fact that it was us who took the lead, and defended it in the second half when, according to the match reports, we were under the cosh a little. Plaudits, apparently, to on-loan keeper Jason Brown, who had a good game by all accounts.
On Saturday me and the kids get to go to the Orient for the first time in nearly a month, due to the vagaries of the fixture list and the cancellation of the Carlisle game last week. Get a result against Plymouth and we could be in relative mid-table safety...
Also important was the fact that it was us who took the lead, and defended it in the second half when, according to the match reports, we were under the cosh a little. Plaudits, apparently, to on-loan keeper Jason Brown, who had a good game by all accounts.
On Saturday me and the kids get to go to the Orient for the first time in nearly a month, due to the vagaries of the fixture list and the cancellation of the Carlisle game last week. Get a result against Plymouth and we could be in relative mid-table safety...
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Leyton Orient vs Carlisle United
Postponed due to bad weather, another fixture to join our pile-up that we started by drawing with Droylsden on Monday night. We don't like making things easy for ourselves, do we?
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Peterborough 2 Leyton Orient 2
Another game, another recovery to draw 2-2. Didn't go to see this one, but from my memory of Peterborough I haven't missed much.
An unusual, Chorley- and McGleish-less team, came from behind twice. Tehoue started this time, but didn't have the impact of recent substitute appearances. More plaudits for Jason Brown in goal - yes, he let in two again, but he kept his nerve to save a penalty late on.
All in all, not a bad result against a team who have a reputation for goalscoring. We're now 19th - it's still tight down there, we need to push on before we get overtaken by those below, or left behind by those above.
An unusual, Chorley- and McGleish-less team, came from behind twice. Tehoue started this time, but didn't have the impact of recent substitute appearances. More plaudits for Jason Brown in goal - yes, he let in two again, but he kept his nerve to save a penalty late on.
All in all, not a bad result against a team who have a reputation for goalscoring. We're now 19th - it's still tight down there, we need to push on before we get overtaken by those below, or left behind by those above.
Peterborough
- 01 Lewis
- 02 Little
- 04 Langmead
- 16 Bennett
- 25 Williams
- 07 Wesolowski
- 21 Davies (Mendez-Laing 90)
- 26 Clayton
- 09 Mclean
- 10 Boyd
- 24 Tomlin
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Sunday, 21 November 2010
Leyton Orient 2 Bournemouth 2
I find it interesting that a 2-2 draw can feel so different depending on how it came to you.
Bournemouth supporters will be kicking themselves after conceding two late goals, and losing a match they were winning comfortably. We, on the other hand, bounced up and down like demented kangaroos upon Jonathan "We Like" Tehoue's late equaliser. Much chanting of "Who Are Ya?" and "East, East, East London" did occur.
In fairness, it was a pretty even match, marred for us by two lapses of concentration at the start of each half which resulted in Bournemouth's two goals. I thought Jason Brown didn't do too badly in goal for his first game of the season - he made a few good stops and generally looked quite confident given his two misses, although blessing the posts before the start clearly didn't work.
He certainly did a lot better than Bournemouth's substitute keeper, who came on for the last 18 minutes following an injury to their number 1, and promptly conceded 2 goals. Cheers, lad.
Russell Slade's bizarre decision to stick Revell (6ft 3in), our top scorer, on the right wing, and Dean Cox (5ft 4in) in the middle, was obviously not working after 20 minutes, so why it took until halftime for him to change things around is beyond me. Mpoku threatened a lot on the left, skinning his man more often than not, but we need a bit more end product from him - his freekicks brought little in the way of chances, and one shot hit the North Stand roof rather than the crossbar.
Congrats to Jonathan Tehoue though - he always makes an impact as a sub, bustling and working like a good centre forward should, and his two goals were tucked away with precise finishing. All in all, a worthwhile point, although better tactics and greater concentration could have provided all three.
Bournemouth supporters will be kicking themselves after conceding two late goals, and losing a match they were winning comfortably. We, on the other hand, bounced up and down like demented kangaroos upon Jonathan "We Like" Tehoue's late equaliser. Much chanting of "Who Are Ya?" and "East, East, East London" did occur.
In fairness, it was a pretty even match, marred for us by two lapses of concentration at the start of each half which resulted in Bournemouth's two goals. I thought Jason Brown didn't do too badly in goal for his first game of the season - he made a few good stops and generally looked quite confident given his two misses, although blessing the posts before the start clearly didn't work.
He certainly did a lot better than Bournemouth's substitute keeper, who came on for the last 18 minutes following an injury to their number 1, and promptly conceded 2 goals. Cheers, lad.
Russell Slade's bizarre decision to stick Revell (6ft 3in), our top scorer, on the right wing, and Dean Cox (5ft 4in) in the middle, was obviously not working after 20 minutes, so why it took until halftime for him to change things around is beyond me. Mpoku threatened a lot on the left, skinning his man more often than not, but we need a bit more end product from him - his freekicks brought little in the way of chances, and one shot hit the North Stand roof rather than the crossbar.
Congrats to Jonathan Tehoue though - he always makes an impact as a sub, bustling and working like a good centre forward should, and his two goals were tucked away with precise finishing. All in all, a worthwhile point, although better tactics and greater concentration could have provided all three.
Leyton Orient
- 32 Brown
- 02 Omozusi
- 04 Chorley (yellow card)
- 06 Forbes
- 07 Cox
- 13 Daniels (Brown 67)
- 16 Spring
- 20 Smith
- 27 M'Poku (Walker 90+4)
- 09 McGleish (Tehoue 61) (yellow card)
- 11 Revell
Goals
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Saturday, 30 October 2010
Leyton Orient 2 Rochdale 1
Orient climbed to 18th, out of the relegation zone, with a win that really looked beyond them at half-time.
Rochdale played a game of possession football, happy to knock the ball around between each other and wait for openings to present themselves. Orient sat off them far too much, allowing Rochdale time and space, with the result that we spent a lot of time in our own half, watching them pass the ball in defence on the halfway line.
We had little in answer to Rochdale's tactics. McGleish and Chambers were left out, in favour of Jarvis and Smith, neither of whom really contributed all that much. Orient were reduced to hopeful long balls that came to nothing and after going behind just before half-time, we looked devoid of inspiration.
The penalty early in the second half looked like getting us a useful point, though, and I was just thinking that a draw wouldn't be a bad result, when Dawson played a lovely ball into the area for Cox to stroke home the winner.
Although Rochdale piled on the pressure in the last 15 minutes, we held on for the win, Chambers coming on for Cox to shore things up in midfield. All in all, against opponents who looked technically superior, it was a creditable win.
It was nice to see Dawson back, and Cox and Daniels were lively throughout. However, we can't come from behind every match. We've got the players to play a more sophisticated style, we need to gain the confidence to do so without slipping back into our bad old long ball habits.
Goals
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Rochdale played a game of possession football, happy to knock the ball around between each other and wait for openings to present themselves. Orient sat off them far too much, allowing Rochdale time and space, with the result that we spent a lot of time in our own half, watching them pass the ball in defence on the halfway line.
We had little in answer to Rochdale's tactics. McGleish and Chambers were left out, in favour of Jarvis and Smith, neither of whom really contributed all that much. Orient were reduced to hopeful long balls that came to nothing and after going behind just before half-time, we looked devoid of inspiration.
The penalty early in the second half looked like getting us a useful point, though, and I was just thinking that a draw wouldn't be a bad result, when Dawson played a lovely ball into the area for Cox to stroke home the winner.
Although Rochdale piled on the pressure in the last 15 minutes, we held on for the win, Chambers coming on for Cox to shore things up in midfield. All in all, against opponents who looked technically superior, it was a creditable win.
It was nice to see Dawson back, and Cox and Daniels were lively throughout. However, we can't come from behind every match. We've got the players to play a more sophisticated style, we need to gain the confidence to do so without slipping back into our bad old long ball habits.
Leyton Orient
- 12 Butcher
- 02 Omozusi
- 04 Chorley
- 06 Forbes (yellow card)
- 07 Cox (Chambers 79)
- 08 Dawson
- 13 Daniels
- 16 Spring
- 20 Smith
- 11 Revell (Tehoue 90+5)
- 14 Jarvis (Walker 59)
Substitutes
- 01 Jones,
- 03 Whing,
- 05 Brown,
- 19 Mike,
- 10 Chambers,
- 18 Tehoue,
- 25 Walker
Rochdale
Substitutes
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