Leyton Orient (h) - League 1 - 02/10/2012

[wednesburysaddler]

i must admit i had a feeling all day we would lose this one.

im not going to be too overcriticle after a loss as we are fighting above our station anyway

from the first minute you could just tell the spark of the passing wed been used to didnt seem to be there and we seem to start really slow and then a cracking goal by orient on the angle had darlow well beat.

orient tactally had us sussed and fair play to their manager he really must have done his homework.
we seemed to huff and puff but didnt ever like threatening theor goal.

then a strange incident their bloke fell over on the centre spot and i thought free kick
i looked down at my mobile and then looked up and the ball had been hit from half way line and beat him.
now i know freak goals do happen but i dont think goalies should be beat from 45 yards plus out.
in all fairness if it wasnt for darlow in first half we may even have been 3 or 4 down so im not going to be too judgemental.

half time came and we came out all guns blazing and won a penalty which was myab 70/30 in our favour.

was suprised when grigg stepped up but bless him he buried it.

we than had fresh belief but i all fairness even with 30 minutes to go we barley threatened until the last few minutes when there must have been 3 poiny balnk saves on the line from the same attack you just knew we werent gping to get that equallizer.

we had a stonewall pen turned down in the 5 mins of injury time but did we deserve a point??? maybe not on that performance.

poor crowd of 3281 with maybe 80 of them but weather footy on tele and 21 quid on the night may have put pays to 4k plus crowd.

lets hope this ones out their system and we can bounce back saturday but just worries me that this squad looks a bit thin and maybe an addition or two as we haed towards the winter matches i think are much needed,

flo got motm but i couldnt really have picked a stand out candidate so i hope he enjoys his cans of beer!!

dont press panic button just yet but would like to see us bounce back saturday

[latviancheese]

21 quid!?

If id got to the cash turnstile and theyd asked for that i would have been tempted to tell them to fudge off.

[geoffwhiting]

Sad that we got beaten tonight, but we're on a good run and bound to get a blip here and there, especially against the big powerful sides if the soundings from other reliable posters on here are correct. Was the pitch bad as well, after the rain? Onwards to Carlisle on Saturday, and hopefully a return to winning ways, no reason why not.

Strange stats in the league tonight, 11 games played, 8 away wins (including PNE at Donny, how do you explain that one?), 2 draws and only 1 home win (Crawley). So I guess we went with the trend tonight. :?

[SWS1]

Trend fshend. Could have - should have - been second tonight. I'm gutted. My informant thinks we deserved a point but big fickers who are willing to put themselves about are always going to give us problems. Gutted.
:(

[SWS1]

Perhaps Boner is breathing a sigh of relief as promo opportunity recedes (slightly). :wink:

[chestersaddler]

That was my third game this season

Doncaster 0-3
Stevenage 1-3
Orient 1-2
:shock: :shock: :cry:

Thought we are decent second half.

[bangsection]

Strange stats in the league tonight

Hard to get a form line in League One at the moment, too.

Orient beat us, Doncaster beat Orient, Preston beat Doncaster, we beat Preston. All in the last few weeks.

Shaping up to be the most open division in years.

[Slade]

Phew I think we got away with that one ! .. I reckon if you'd got a decent striker you'd have won that ..

[tinned]

Darlow is no better than Grof.

The ref was a complete tool. Are there new rules that say that you can only be awarded one penalty per match? Should've had two more easily.

People booing at half time need a good slap. We played worse than that last season and won.

[Jolly Johnny]

That was my third game this season

Doncaster 0-3
Stevenage 1-3
Orient 1-2
:shock: :shock: :cry:

Thought we are decent second half.

Please 'stayaway'!! :mrgreen:

[LancsSaddler]

Poor first half where orient had us completely sussed tactically, they pushed on to our midfield and fullbacks making sure that only holden and butler had the ball and then they had no options as Flo and Featherstone were being virtually man marked unless they dropped as deep as our CB's. First goal Purkiss backed off and backed off and backed off and let the left footed player have a shot on his left foot, poor defending... looked like it went straight through Darlow from our angle but also that it swerved so would have to see it again. 2nd goal should have been a free kick on our midfielder (flo?) for a headed challenge led with the elbow, Bulter then exacted soem revenge by clobbering him and while everyone wondered what was going on Cox hit an exquisite shot over Darlow. Darlow too far off his line? i dont know. Overall too slow and one paced and tactically out thought.

2nd half were were soooo much better, esspecially first 15 minutes until the stonewall penalty which was put away well by grigg (no way he was letting anyone else take it even though Bowerman offered!) We the tempo then dropped and i thought Deano should have made the changes earlier to try to kick start us. Should have been a definate free kick on Brandy and a 70/30 pen on grigg right at the end. Ref was dire the whole game though so no suprises he didnt give them, the foul and yellow he gave against featherstone was a complete joke, he ended up kicking the ball from between their guys legs as he had pulled out of the challenge! I was happy we came back 2nd half and if the goal mouth scramble near the end had gone in i dont think either side could have complained at a draw.

Darlow - possibly suspect on the two goals but a few other brilliant saves. looked to kick it long a few times when options short (one notable time near the end when holden in acres!) 1st time i have seen him and doesnt look much better than Grof.
Purkiss - dire for their first goal but got forward very well 2nd half and won the pen with a great run
Taylor - decent game as normal, got forward quite well whole game
Butler - not at fault for either goal and quite solid, noticeable that he is poor on the ball compared to rest of the team, lead from the front at the end!
Holden - similar to Butler but more comfortable on the ball and not as dominant in the air.

Featherstone - couldnt get on ball 1st half but kept trying, much improved 2nd half as we upped the tempo and did what he does well spraying the ball around
Flo - see featherstone but maybe more effective 1st half and kept trying things 2nd half linking up the play
Baxendale - some nice runs first half but again couldnt get on the ball, also improved till he went off
Paterson - dire 1st half, constantly gav eteh ball away and made teh wrong decision, slightly better 2nd half, very nice piece of control at one point. In generaI (and been the same all season) i can not see what he gives us over hemmings.

Grigg - Not much service 1st half, linked up well 2nd. Good Penand nice to see the confidence to take it
Bowerman - Similar to Grigg, although needs to look up when he gets the ball in behind theit full backs instead of just rolling it across hoping it will reach our players! no real chances to show his predetory instincts.

Brandy - should have won a freekick and nice to see him running at them. Seems a bit of a hot head, thought he was going to punch the ref after the non-free kick...
Hemmings - looked decent in teh few minutes he had, should be in the team over paterson to give us pace and end product as looked good 1st few games.
Taundry - threw the ball a long way and tried a shot from 45 yards, dont get why he came on.

Overall, was a dire 1st half but thats what you expect every so often from such a young team. Great to see Deano and ROK managed to get them up for the 2nd half and i think we deserved a draw in the end. A few tweaks needed but still very encouraging! And the people booing at half (and even some at full) time need to get a grip!

[realist saddler]

Darlow is no better than Grof.

The ref was a complete tool. Are there new rules that say that you can only be awarded one penalty per match? Should've had two more easily.

People booing at half time need a good slap. We played worse than that last season and won.

Agreed mate, how quite the ref didnt give a penalty at the end when grigg was goal side of the defender on roughly the penalty spot, controls it then is blatantly flattened to the ground, i aint sure, but he was utterly racked off all night.

We lost it in the first half, two pretty gash goals to give away, playing longball, was it cus of the wind? 2nd half ball more on the ground, pressed them and they were sweating big style at the end - didnt like orients tactics, argue with the ref, dont stand 10yrds at a free kick till the ref makes ya, just timewaste as much as poss, a bit frustrating overall - but to be fair they played some good stuff first half.

Now to see how they react to that - they bounced back after stevenage, so it can be done - i will be there sat so saddlers keep a little faith 2nd half there was a real effort just didnt come off tonight

[KoloSaddler]

Ref was a twanger.

Never got going in the first half, but we showed good attitude in the 2nd half. Should have had another penalty and hit the post late on. Heads up Saddlers bring on Carlisle.

[WFC_Rob]

That was the most frustrating game of football I've seen at the Banks's for a long time. By the end, I couldn't bear another second.

In short, I thought they had us sussed. They played an extra man in midfield, which stifled Cuvelier and Baxendale in the first half. Our 4-4-2 requires one of our strikers to drop that bit deeper to give us possession in the final third, but Bowerman and Grigg didn't do that. As a result, we couldn't get the ball into threatening positions. We huffed and puffed with Featherstone central to all of our play, but they were quite happy to soak things up fairly easily.

Their first goal was a belter and came out of nowhere really. There was a hint of offside as Lisbie's flick-on found Cook, who thought he'd try his luck with the wind clearly in their favour. Personally, I thought Darlow should have got something on the shot, but it took a bit of a swerve and crashed in.

And if their first was a belter, their second was a wonder strike. As a manager or player from the defending side, you'd usually quite happily let a midfielder try his luck from inside his own half, but we did that to our peril. Again, I think the effort was wind assisted and I don't think Darlow can really be blamed.

Whilst a two goal lead completely flattered them at half time, Whilst we created next to nothing, they forced two really good saves from Darlow aside from their two goals.

From our point of view, the second half was a lot better - mainly thanks to the fact that we raised the tempo and tried to take the game to them more forcefully. They dropped deeper and Cuvelier and Paterson started to find more space to cause problems from. A really good spell of pressure and a great link-up between Baxendale and Purkiss won a stone wall penalty and I think it was a sigh of relief as much as a cheer when Grigg drilled the penalty in.

From there, I thought we'd get at least a point, but Russell Slade knows what he's doing at this level and a combination of unpunished timewasting and well-timed substitutions took the wind out of our sails just as we looked to turn the screw. How a combination of Butler, Holden and Brandy didn't force the ball over the line during a classic goalmouth scramble, I'll never know - nor will I know how the ref managed to justify not giving a penalty as Grigg was poleaxed in the dying seconds.

The pleasing thing was, we played some really good stuff again and were only really beaten by goal of the season contenders. On the flip-side however, we looked far too rigid in a 4-4-2 in the first half, which meant that we didn't threaten until we were two goals down.

We played well tonight, but tonight also proved we need something to fall back on when plan A fails. For the first time in Dean Smith's managerial career, his team were the scalp and that's something he'll have to get to grips with if we're to resurrect what has up to now been promotion form.

[Wyrley_saddler]

As I put earlier, we were afoul first alf. We simply didn't turn up. Second half was much better and with a bit more look we could've gotten a point out of the game. Purkiss was fantastic second half, constant threat down the wing and won the penalty.

Brandy looked lively when he came on and he definitely should've had a penalty in the second half. However, the ref was awful. Far too whistle happy at times, and some of his decisions were baffling to be quite frank.

Overall, poor first half and a freak goal, Darlow probably should've done better with the 2nd, cost us dearly.

[Bristol Fan]

I think you have to give a lot of credit to Russell Slade really - it was a classic away performance by Orient. They packed the midfield and gave us no time on the ball and, in the first half at least, we had no answer - Cuvelier was going deeper and deeper to get the ball (often taking it off Butler or Holden just outside our own box) and couldn't do much damage from there. Darlow seemed to flap at the first and it was inexplicable that the second could go in (an amazing shot, but he didn't look all that far off his line to me, so how could he have been beaten?) but Orient certainly deserved their lead. We were miles better in the second half and should surely have had another penalty, but it was I think a case of a young, inexperienced team being presented with a different type of challenge and not quite having the answers. I'm sure they'll learn from it and it will turn out to be a blip.

[Darth Vader]

Phew I think we got away with that one ! .. I reckon if you'd got a decent striker you'd have won that ..

Not seen the tops scorers then?

cack first half, never got going, better second and in the end unlucky not to come home with a point at least, nothing to worry about overall.

Barely care/moan about refs but jesus christ he was atrocious tonight.

[WFC_Rob]

Brandy looked lively when he came on and he definitely should've had a penalty in the second half.

He looked lively, without looking a threat. He was always looking for a penalty, which is why the ref didn't give it. Grigg's penalty claim on the other hand, was a completely different story.

['Utch]

First one I'd been to tonight and think we were good value for a draw, Orient will be coming away from that thinking they've had a soft touch there.

They'd obviously done there homework on us, stopped us playing in the middle of the park and we looked a little lost for ideas at points. Darlow was at fault for the first goal, it came straight through him...as a keeper myself that was well saveable. Second one, difficult really. He, like 21 other blokes on the pitch, had switched off while we were all waiting for the ref to blow for whatever was wrong with their bloke who was down...the one bloke who hadn't shut down took that goal beautifully, paced the 'lob' (can you call them that from the half way line?!) perfectly. Having said all that, he did pull out two blinders in the first half so call it honours even. Butler, God love him, best centre half and captain we've had in a long time but his distribution was awful, over hit 4 or 5 passes into the corner, he's not a passer, he's a ball winner.

Purkiss looked good in the second half, pulled out wide and provided some good balls into the box; I was surprised when he got subbed particularly in favour of Taundry?!?! Although Grigg took his pen well, it's a bit of an injustice he gets the credit for the goal as he offered nothing for the other 89 minutes of the game...correct me if I'm wrong but did he even have a shot all night, never mind one on target?? We just looked generally better in the second half when we upped the tempo and ran the ball at them. I was impressed with the passing football we're obviously trying to play, credit to Deano and the players for turning that around from continual hoofball.

Now for a rant. What the feck was that fecking myopic ref thinking? :evil: :twisted: The foul on Brandy was as nailed on a penalty as you're ever likely to see and quite simply he bottled it, he couldn't be seen to be giving the home side two penalties in one game even though they were both blatent...I hope he's dragged in front of a TV to watch the replay and then summarily shot outside the ground. Absolute shocker.

All in all, enjoyed my first one of the season and glad the atmosphere picked up in the second half 'cause it was cack in the first! Off to Shrewsbury I think! :D

[Sadders]

Had a feeling that was coming. As soon as we started getting a reputation for nice flowing football, a team that's started the season in-consistently would come and put 5 in midfield, man mark us and be solid to break through, which they were. Poor goal-keeping for the 2nd and despite his good attacking play Purkiss is at fault for too many goals by letting men have space, it was his side against Bournemouth, him tonight and the right side of the defence exposed for PNE's 1st goal.

1st half was dire - much better in the 2nd and we probably deserved a point in the end. We got the ball wider and improved going forward with more pace and Orient resorted to hoofing the ball away, letting the keeper taking 30 seconds over every goal kick and generally time waste as much as they possibly could. Brandy looked lively when he came on. He had the best penalty appeal of the evening not given by a ref that crapped himself at the prospect of awarding 2 in a short space of time.

Does nobody else see the need even more for a target man. When we're playing well Grigg and in particular Bowerman look decent - but when its against us, or on nights like tonight when teams park the bus and we need to play the ball in the air more we look particularly short in the striking department. As the Orient chap said, a good striker and we've have scored a few more tonight. 2 occasions in particular, Butler headed down on the penalty spot and there was only an Orient defender their, Purkiss whipped another ball to the penalty spot and there was no-one to be seen. Grigg was poor again tonight.

Darlow - Made 2 decent saves, let 2 poor-ish goals in. Handling and Kicking is miles better than Grof though.

Purkiss - Got well forward, but is far too suspect for my liking.
Butler - Struggled against Lisbie, who was excellent. Got forward well and really wants to win.
Holden - See Butler
Taylor - Classy but didnt really do much of note tonight. Tried to get forward, defended okay - was steady

Paterson - Another bordeline woeful performance. Gave the ball away playing hollywood passes at least 4 or 5 times. Short and weak, looks like an arrogant snobby little git when he's taken off as well.
Cuvelier - I love Flo, but quite how he won MOTM tonight was incredible. He was wasteful and was clearly beating himself up over it at times. Hope there's not too much pressure on his shoulders.
Featherstone - Best of the midfielders, kept possesion nicely - especially in the 2nd half.
Baxendale - Tries hard, really hard. But wasn't great tonight.

Bowerman - Looked like he was playing wider than normal tonight? Did okay when he had the ball.
Grigg - Poor really. Got no service, but good players make things happen. I'd try Brandy.

SUBS
Brandy - Looks bright and looks versatile. Perhaps a new Nicholls, in that he can play upfront and on the wing. Give him a start.
Taundry - Not sure why he came on? Looks to have lost a stone though.


One final note. For his averageness last season - we missed Adam Chambers tonight, especially in the 1st half.

[SaddlerCraig]

Nick Mashiter has just said on twitter:
Right, now, the word is Dean Cox confessed to jamiepaterson12 his strike was a fluke - he meant to knock it back to Karl Darlow. Obviously LO had a man down and supposedly Cox was trying to do the honest thing, according to Dean Holden afterwards.

Still took the goal though didn't he jammy git!, I think overall it was probably fair to end up that way.. though a 2-2 draw wouldn't of been unkind to either team.

[IHTC.]

Darlow - 2 excellent saves, at fault for the 2nd goal, not sure what he adds to the team that Grof dosn't

Purkiss - Best game Ive seen him play, defensively good, also made himself available on the wing in the 2nd half. Still runs like he's got the trots.
Butler - Struggled today even though he gave 100% effort
Holden - as above
Taylor - Solid

Paterson - Did he play tonight? It took 30 mins for myself and Willenhall Saddler to realise he was on the pitch. Needs to be dropped.
Cuvelier - M.O.M? what game are these sponsors actually watching? Was not at the races today
Featherstone - Solid and kept it simple
Baxendale - Had another go at a 'worldy' which was not to far away but soon went quiet after that. Struggled.
Bowerman - Hard work and endeavor. He was slightly miffed that he did not take the penalty.
Grigg - Great Penalty and great courage to take it but apart from that he was blindingly awful, yet again failed to get into a single goal scoring positon.

SUBS
Brandy - His pace was to much for Orient to handle should have had a penalty or atleast a freekick
Taundry - Brainless, 8 players in and around the box so he tries to shoot from 25-30 yards, luckily he got a corner with which Brandy headed wide from.

[Willenhall Saddler]

Told you this would happen.

Orient are a big physical side, they've done their homework, put 5 across the middle and stopped us playing.

They're pressing hard and keeping a rigid shape, meaning the likes of baxendale, cuvelier and Paterson are being made to look very ordinary.

I didn't think they were physical at all or big.Some of their players were small! They played some nice stuff, it was just the fact that for some reason we didn't turn up in the first half which ultimately cost us.If we had played like we did in the 2nd half in the first, then i have no doubt we would have won that game.

[Willenhall Saddler]

Hold on, how does a jolly well professional goalkeeper concede from 60 yards. Im sorry, thats a joke.

Wonder if Darlow will get slated now like Grof did?

[NEWPORT SADDLERS DAD]

Nick Mashiter has just said on twitter:
Right, now, the word is Dean Cox confessed to jamiepaterson12 his strike was a fluke - he meant to knock it back to Karl Darlow. Obviously LO had a man down and supposedly Cox was trying to do the honest thing, according to Dean Holden afterwards.

Still took the goal though didn't he jammy git!, I think overall it was probably fair to end up that way.. though a 2-2 draw wouldn't of been unkind to either team.

I was level with him when he scored.He wasn't really looking when he hit it,just a back pass or kicking out for a goal kick.He looked down at his team mate on the deck, though he needs attention and then wallop 2-0. :(

[Darth Vader]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zza2UCyI0G8[/youtube]
:x

[kshammer]

It shows how much we've come on this season that at 2-0 down I still believed there was something in the game for us.

First half they had done their homework and closed us down well (Featherstone especially, and noone really dropped in to offer him a ball) and to be fair although their second was a masive fluke, they had other chances to score and so the scoreline didn't surprise me. As with Preston, who started ok against us, teams are going to get at us early and try and grab a lead as they don't want an open 90 minute game against our skillful midfielders, so it is a learning curve whereby we need a bit more savvy in the first half an hour or so. That will come with experience.

Second half it was all about us - as I expected. Orient were always going to sit back and as much as it pains me to say it, they killed the game off well with stop/start antics and their keeper (who looked decent) taking ages on every kick. Two other great penalty shouts and the efforts on the line that wouldn't go in could have given us the win in the end but it wasn't our night. A draw would have been fair I thought but sometimes it aint your day.

Still, how nice to have a team that when going 2-0 down, still try to play, still believe in themselves and still have optimism in the crowd.

Also, thought the crowds support mirrored the team last night. Awful first half (a real disgrace after the way the lads have been playing), but better second half. The chanting shouldn't start just because we're down - this team deserves it from the off.

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Looking at that, Darlow was not at fault and he has admitted it was unintentional and a fluke. It was a nailed on penalty when Brandy was brought down with a two handed push in the back (clear view from "upstairs") and it was a nailed on penalty when Grigg was fouled. They did a job on us first half, but they were struggling when they tired and with a decent ref (and some luck in that goalmouth scramble), we'd have got a point, or even a win.

As for Phil's comment, no, they weren't "big and strong", they were just organised to defend in depth and squeeze out the room for our passing game.

[aaaae]

Looking at that, Darlow was not at fault

You have got to be joking! :shock:

[Bernie]

The goalkeeper has to be at fault if he is beaten from the half-way line. Like a fielder on the boundary he has to be able to judge the flight of the ball quickly enough to get into position to take the catch. By definition if a ball goes between the posts and under the bar then it must be within the goalkeeper's reach since he has enough time to move to a shot from more than fifty yards.

Darlow got nowhere near that shot because he did not judge its flight quickly enough.