Swindon Town - 22nd February 2014

Orient return to the top of League One with victory over Swindon.

A quick review - With a lot of focus being understandably put upon the game at Griffin Park it was important Orient didn't lose their focus, and they didn't as they were rarely under threat from a weakened Swindon side. 2-0 probably wasn't a fair reflection of the difference in quality of the 2 sides. 

Both penalties came from great play from Chris Dagnall, who I felt put in his best performance since Crewe away last month. The 1st, he put a lovely through ball to Odubajo, who drew the foul from the full back. For the second he played another great ball behind the defence, and Mooney was bundled over by Troy Archibald Henville.

I'm not sure if Archibald-Henville's first sport is football, but his performance yesterday certainly suggests it shouldn't be. The phrase "bull in a china shop" is probably the most apt way to describe what was one of the worst individual performances I've seen since Geraint Williams decided to give James Scowcroft a run out.

Swindon looked pretty jaded after their JPT defeat in midweek, something Orient fans can relate to having gone out at the same stage last season. However, despite this they will need to improve drastically to find themselves in a play-off berth come the end of the season. Ironic jeers greeted the play from the away end after they finally managed to work the ball out wide, only for the winger to find the TJS with his cross.

Man of the match - Lloyd James took his penalties well, and what I mean by that is that he scored them. With our penalty record this season, it wasn't surprising that most fans (and even some of the players) were unable to watch. Thankfully Lloydinho was able to give the keeper the eyes and send him the wrong way each time. 

It wasn't just Lloyd who had a good game though. The defence was as solid as it has been all season, and it was nice that Omozusi was able to slot straight back in having missed the last couple of games through injury. 

Dagnall up front was superb too, setting up the two penalties and was also unlucky not to have a couple of goals himself - one effort dropping agonisingly against the post and another effort being ruled out for a push, which nobody apart from the referee saw. 

What next? - Colchester United. Another home game for Orient and with Wolves and Brentford having a couple of games in hand, it's important that we make these home games count. If we perform like we did yesterday though, I see no reason why we can't pick up another vital 3 points. With the team seemingly settled again with a reliable goalkeeper at the back and with a very strong bench should we need to change things around, it's setting up the last dozen or so games nicely. What's also nice is that we are now level on the same points as Tranmere finished on last season - so the chances of us "doing a Tranmere" seem pretty slim not don't they?

Up the O's!

Follow me on Twitter! - @lauriehann

Stevenage - 18th February 2014

Orient return to winning ways against Stevenage

A quick review - A game in which Orient had things pretty much sewn up by the end of the first half. The first goal came about after some nice interplay down the right. Dagnall probably should've done better with his initial effort but it came back to Odubajo who made no mistake. With the second goal, Mooney, Dagnall and Cox pressed very well high up the field and on an evening where Stevenage were very direct from the back, the one time they weren't was taken advantage of as Dagnall and Mooney exchanged passes to make it 2-0. I'm not sure if there was a shout for offside when the ball went to Mooney but a 2nd goal was the least the O's deserved.  There was only one real effort of note from Stevenage in the first half, Jimmy Smith taking advantage of his ghost-like presence to hammer a shot straight at Jakupovic.

In the second half Stevenage did improve and were unlucky not to grab a goal with some great defending from Clarke preventing Darius Charles from breaking through and big Edin making a great save in injury time. Trevor Kettle also had Graham Westley boiling over after turning down loud shouts for a penalty, Westley throwing a tantrum that a toddler would've been proud of.

Man of the match - It was a much more assured performance from the O's, particularly after the last home game against Bristol City. Jakupovic (one dodgy kick aside) was commanding in goal with one particularly excellent save in injury time, Sawyer was much improved at left-back, James had an excellent game in midfield and Dagnall was lively up front. Standing out though was Moses who provided a constant threat all game on the right. He also supported Cuthbert well in defence and more than deserved his goal.

What next? -Swindon Town. With Brentford facing Wolves this weekend, this could arguably be classed as the biggest game of the season so far. With 2 more home games to come, followed by 2 very winnable away games, it sets up the Brentford game in front of the Sky cameras nicely. We now have 64 points on the board, a total we reached with only 4 games remaining last season. With 14 games remaining we've got a great platform to reach our initial 75 point target quickly and who knows where that will take us to the end of the season. With Omozusi hopefully to return this Saturday we could have a fully fit squad to pick from, and with Lisbie getting a rest last night, it's boding well for the next few games.

Up the O's!

Follow me on Twitter! - @lauriehann