retired_seyyya

5.12.06
Leyton Orient (2) Cheltenham (0)
We are still holding down third place on the League One table behind Nottm Forest and Blackpool and a match against bottom-placed Cheltenham should ensure that we stay in that position. Cheltenham showed why they are stuck where they are by producing little in the way of cohesive football. 17 minutes had gone when we took the lead courtesy of an error by Cheltenham keeper Shane Higgs who miscontrolled a back-pass and allowed Jabo Ibehre to rob him and roll the ball into an unguarded net. After 34 minutes Ibehre made it 2-0 in our favour when Higgs could only block Craig Easton’s shot and the attacking midfielder again popped the ball into an empty net. In the second half the team took their foot of the gas and coasted towards victory, still controlling the play but not creating as many scoring chances. Cheltenham gave us a scare when the former Liverpool youngster Steven Gillespie came close on a couple of occasions late in the match, but by then the damage had been done by his team’s earlier poor showing. Despite the 2-0 win I gave the team a verbal spray for not closing out the match and registering a more comprehensive victory.

retired_seyyya

9.12.06
S****horpe (2) Leyton Orient (0)
The players seemed jaded after the midweek win over Cheltenham as our first half performance against S****horpe was ragged and sloppy. The normally inspirational Craig Easton couldn’t get into the match in the midfield and Gary Alexander and Hogan Ephraim were both well held up front. The lack of desire was summed up after 38 minutes when Richard Hinds went on a mazy run past Isaiah Osborne, Justin Miller and Clayton Fortune before beating Glyn Garner at his near post to put the home side 1-0 in front. Things didn’t improve after the interval either and despite the use of all three substitutes over a fifteen-minute period midway through the second half there was no improvement in the team’s performance. A hoofed clearance from deep in the S****horpe half caught our defence napping after 72 minutes and Andrew Keogh run free to volley a fierce effort past Garner to make it 2-0. Our opponents then shut up shop to preserve their two-goal lead and took the 2-0 win without much of a struggle. It was our first defeat in the league for two months, but the display we gave was more like that of a team on a lengthy losing streak.

retired_seyyya

11.12.06
On-loan striker Hogan Ephraim will miss the next two months with groin strain suffered in training today. Despite the fact that he has managed four goals for us, Ephraim is proving to be injury-prone and I am considering terminating his loan and returning him to West Ham whilst looking for a new striker to pick up in the transfer window.

***

12.12.06
Doncaster (1) Leyton Orient (1)
Our poor form continued with our visit to Doncaster as the team again looked off the pace. Thankfully Doncaster is not in great form at the moment either or we may have found ourselves a couple of goals down at half-time. We created little in attack and, as it was, only the linesman’s flag saved us in the 42nd minute. Sean Thornton ran on to a pass to score, only for it to be ruled out for Bruce Dyer being offside, although he did not look to be interfering with play to be honest. As often happens, we then scored against the run of play after 53 minutes when John Mackie nodded down a corner for Gary Alexander to feed Craig Easton who prodded the ball home from close range for a 1-0 lead. However Doncaster equalised at 1-1 after 69 minutes when Jonathan Forte’s strong run on a counter-attack resulted in a low cross which Sean Thornton swept home from ten yards range. The team battled hard to hold onto the point they had in the final twenty minutes and that gave me some slight satisfaction, but I can sense that some changes may need to be made.

retired_seyyya

16.12.06
Leyton Orient (1) Chesterfield (1)
Frustration is beginning to eat away at me as the team continues to under-perform. Our training sessions have been good, but once we get out on the park for an official match, then all our good work goes out the window. Back in September and October we would have made short work of Chesterfield at the Leyton Stadium, but today we struggled again. A poor first half performance from both teams was only kept scoreless by Matt Lockwood’s desperate goal-line clearance from Jamie Jackson’s header in the 42nd minute. Paul Connor then wasted a great chance in first half injury-time when he headed wide from eight yards when totally unmarked. Connor did make amends in the 50th minute though when he dived in at the near post to glance home Michael Simpson’s cross and put us 1-0 up. Unfortunately the team never looked confident holding on to the lead and Paul Hall surged forward from the midfield after 69 minutes to bypass our static defence and fire Chesterfield level at 1-1 with a searing low drive. In the end another draw saw us slip further away from Nottingham Forest and Blackpool in the top two positions, but at least we continue to cling onto third spot on the League One table.