Match day thread v Leyton Orient

No lack of effort I thought Orient were a decent well drilled side and their defence was as good as I have seen this season they won every ball first and second. I thought the Orient full backs supported the front men really well but ours never got over the half way line.

They were obviously the better side - quicker and better with the ball. However, at HT we were giving a reasonable account of ourselves and were very much in the game.

Second half though they got on top and we rarely worked the ball in to any dangerous areas until we went one down. We did our best to respond but it was too little too late.

Positives were the displays of the young lads in the side, they put in a shift I thought. Bottom line though, we needed the points & didnt get them.

Thought we played pretty well again tonight but just couldn’t muster up any chances. They were one of the best teams down here this season in my opinion, slick and made us work hard off the ball and it showed in the second half and particularly after they went ahead as we got tired. Reckon they’ll end up well inside the top half come the end of the season.

Crawford was outstanding, his best performance yet. The floating ball he put in to White late on was superb, if only White could have controlled it.

To be honest although results have gone against us I was encouraged, it’s a shame the line-up we have now has only just come together, we’d have been nowhere near the bottom four otherwise. Definitely have confidence that we can get results now, it’s just whether we’ve left ourselves with too much to do.

Four words to sum tonight up.

At the end of the day, we've got half our squad on expenses, whilst Orient have quality in abundance and now a manager playing them like a promotion chasing side. The effort from our players was there, just a lack of quality on and off the ball compared to a superior Orient outfit. Late goals elsewhere in the league mean it's still only 6 points from safety - could have been far worse.

Onto Dagenham.

Lots of positives to take from the fight that the team put up and the individual performances of many of the players recently introduced. Just a shame we had nothing in the final third and are carrying players like Hannah and White. One decent game in 10 isn't enough and White cost us the goal and failed to control the only chance we created. Still being let down by the same players. Anyway, onto the next one and hopefully we can keep showing this kind of fight. Just not sure where the goals will consistently come from.

Because Barrow conceded a late equaliser, Solihull failed to find a winner, Torquay conceded a very late winner, Maidstone lost.

Couldn’t fault the lads for effort, we were just beaten by a better and well drilled team. I don’t recall their keeper having to do anything!

Crawford looks like another cracking prospect and looks so calm on the ball.

It wasn't all negative tonight, but for all our effort we didn't trouble them too much.

I would love to know why, for the last 2 and a half seasons, we are never first to a second ball. Whether it's on the edge of our box or theirs, it always falls to the opposition. No idea if its tactical or fitness related, but it can't be luck. Teams pen us in so easily.

We did okay in spells and nobody could question the effort of any of them, but not enough quality to make that final pass. Hannah was well off his game, first touch was poor all night. We need him firing if we're to stand a chance against good teams.

Also, I'm absolutely done with Harry White. I'm sure he's a lovely lad but he's just nowhere near good enough at this level. As soon as he came on, any momentum we had just fell away. I was also absolutely convinced he bottled a challenge seconds after coming on, just before their goal. I'd have to see the replay, perhaps I'm being harsh, but it absolutely looked like his ball and he just didn't want to know.

We've improved, but we have to do more to get behind our opposition. Hopeful clipped balls down the channels are fine every so often, but it was clear it wasn't working tonight and there wasn't a plan B.

Absolutely agree about Tom Crawford. What a player!

I’m disappointed with the outcome tonight. False hope just had to kill us, but the players did show a lot of effort. We did play really well in the first half and played some good attacking football. We were making good movements and I thought that we would win. However, something just wasn’t right in the second period. Give Orient their due, they did deserve the win but we seemed a bit lethargic. We had lost our shape a little and were far too deep. Leyton Orient had a lot of possession for the majority of the second half. To be fair though, our team was unchanged from Saturday and I did sense a bit of tiredness in them, but it’s disappointing to lose to a team who we could win against on another day. Results did not go our way again sadly and it’s looking too late. Still 12 games to go yet, but survival doesn’t look likely. Quite a tricky away trip lies ahead at Dagenham on Saturday. Hopefully it will be a chance to refresh ourselves and improve from our errors today. In case anyone is wondering, I’m not going on the Hipkiss for this one, but will be travelling down alternatively.

Sorry Rio, only 12 games left.

Oops that was a typo 😀.

As I've said before, he's a carthorse and is absolutely not what we need in this division - or the division below. The only thing you could maybe say for him is that he's marginally better than Craig Hobson.

I'd also throw Akintunde in to the category of not good enough for next season - wherever we end up. Has the lad ever beat a man one on one?

Aye Akintunde was supposed to kick on this season, but he's gone backwards.

Exactly right. Both Tom Crawford and Jones have been excellent and are more than capable of playing, in this league
.Matty Waters is also developing. If it were me, I would be looking to blood the likes of Cain Noble, Dobson etc. And could Marsh Hughes be any worse than Harry White? You would take Archer, Astles, Gary Roberts and possibly Vose and build a team around them.