Leyton Orient (H) League One Feb 28th, 3pm

[Welsh_Saddler]

The O's have fallen somewhat heavily from last season's play-off final defeat on penalties by Rotherham United. Since then they've been taken over by Italian Francesco Becchetti and are currently on their fourth manager in fellow Italian Fabio Liverani. Rumours have circulated about a dissatisfied dressing room because of the manager's inability to communicate, and also allegations that some of the players signed by the Chairman are on greatly enhanced wages - £7,500 a week has been quoted. :shock:

Be that as it may Orient are currently bottom-but-one in the table on 32 points, although like ourselves it is their home form that has let them down. They have a decent record on their travels (5 League One wins to date) and they did win 0-1 at Villa Park in the League Cup, but that wasn't such a shock.. :wink: ......Current form:

24 Jan Colchester United (A) Lost 2-0
31 Jan Scunthorpe United (H) Lost 1-4.........sound familiar???
10 Feb Notts County (H) Lost 0-1
14 Feb Chesterfield (A) Won 2-3
18 Feb Bradford City (H) Lost 0-2
21 Feb Oldham Athletic (H) Won 3-0

Hopefully Tom Bradshaw will have recovered from the sickness bug that ruled him out of the Preston game, so Dean Smith has the decision to make as to which combination of strikers to employ. Our current League One position isn't totally satisfactory, and it is imperative that we get points from the next few matches if we are to seriously challenge for a play-off place. With a Wembley appearance now only four weeks away we should see quite a few players striving to make their mark for the big-day selection. I'll go for my favourite score of 2-1 for this game, with Bradshaw and Cain scoring.

[SWS1]

Do you think Forest would loan Paterson back to us? He don't seem to be getting much game time lately.... :mrgreen:

[Tom_1992]

1-1

Hiwula for us.

3,968 around 450 away.

I get the feeling Smith might try something different if Bradshaw is back tomorrow and go with two up-front. Not sure who he would drop however...

[BathSaddler]

Walsall and Leyton Orient are two of a significant number of League One clubs whose away record is much better than their home record. This factor, combined with a general feeling that we may be entering one of those 'dips' in form that characterises life under DS, suggests a difficult afternoon and a home defeat to a side who are much, much better player-for-player than their current position indicates.

So, a 2-0 home defeat :( , in front of 5,276, including 425 'O's.

PS - there is a schools promotion on, so expect a good 1,000+ extra for this one.

[Andy_Petterson]

Any one who has watched this fixture for the past few seasons will know we have had some really bad luck against Leyton Orient.

I think that will change. 3-1 to us.

Think we'll lose to Yeovil after that mind... :(

[the fickle one]

Formation tomorrow 4 3 3 Forde is injured so I think it will be Jordy on left as he has played there before, Cook on right & Bradshaw in centre
3 1 to us Bradshaw 2 Cook 1 :D :D :D

[Cully]

Lucky jumper tomorrow - practising for Wembley

SMITHOUT - no practice needed :D

[Welsh_Saddler]

Starting line-up against Leyton Orient:

O'Donnell

Purkiss
O'Connor
Chambers
Taylor

Hiwula
Chambers
Cain
Cooke

Sawyers
Bradshaw

Substitutes: MacGillivray, Downing, Baxendale, Flanagan, Bakayoko, Grimes, Murphy.

Bookmakers' odds have us as slight favourites:

Walsall to win: 13/8

The draw: 11/5

Leyton Orient to win: 7/4

[Anonymouse]

In 2011, Leyton Orient won this match 2-0. One of the scorers was Harry Kane. I wonder what happened to him?

[Welsh_Saddler]

In 2011, Leyton Orient won this match 2-0. One of the scorers was Harry Kane. I wonder what happened to him?

He went back to his parent club (Spurs) after 18 appearances for Orient, scoring 5 goals. I'm glad he's back there... :D

[Welsh_Saddler]

Do you think Forest would loan Paterson back to us? He don't seem to be getting much game time lately.... :mrgreen:

Paterson and Fryatt both in the starting XI for Forest today at Reading !!

[Welsh_Saddler]

Oldham Athletic 0 Preston North End 2

(Edit) Soon after... Notts County 0 Port Vale 1

Coventry City 2 M K Dons 0 - Life after Pressley.....

Bristol City 1 Rochdale 0

Scunthorpe 0 Yeovil Town 1 (30 min)

Chesterfield 2 Fleetwood 0

Doncaster Rovers 1 Colchester United 0

Here's one for the purists.... Newcastle Utd 1 Aston Villa 0 (36 min) :D

[Super Gabor]

Grim first half hour. A Chambers having a mare although he's just managed one forward pass. Amazingly mediocre so far.

[DavidWFC2010]

One or two man front line?

[sallian]

blaming referees - (Dean Smith) "We haven't had a penalty at home for a year"

It's more likley to happen if you have more players in the penalty box more often...two strikers..rather than three of them on the bench

0 - 0 or 0 - 1 to Orient

[Welsh_Saddler]

One or two man front line?

Our 3 shots in the first half (all on target) have come from Cook, Taylor, and Jordy Hiwula. Seems that the front line is somewhat flexible !!

[Super Gabor]

One or two man front line?

one. Bradshaw. Crap first half we need to get a grip

[longdogs]

In a season of very poor home games, this is one of the worst.

[Ancient Moaner]

One or two man front line?

one. Bradshaw. Crap first half we need to get a grip

A lot on here were dumbfounded by the suggestion that we were bad at Preston, (others that were there should have confirmed my remarks more diligently in my opinion). Today seems to be proving that we are currently 'not on song'. I hope we can sneak a goal from somewhere 1-0 will put us in a safer position in the league.

[Welsh_Saddler]

Early in the second half (elsewhere, naturally...) Peterborough 1 Bradford City 0

Oldham Athletic 0 Preston North End 3 now...Mr. Holden has his work cut out there...

Gillingham 0 Barnsley 1

[Welsh_Saddler]

Oh, dearie dearie me..... 0-1 down........ :(

Purkiss booked just before the goal.

Time for a sub (or two) ??

[Super Gabor]

This is truly shite. Goal was offside but no excuses we sre shite. 2 nil now

[paddy]

All the smith fans, will still say he's doing a good job. :roll:

[philthesaddler]

Who's smith going to blame after this? Decent referee, nice pitch. Hmm.

[philthesaddler]

And not a single shot on target so far, 62 mins gone, against 2nd from bottom

[SaddlerCrewe]

[Welsh_Saddler]

And not a single shot on target so far, 62 mins gone, against 2nd from bottom

Errrrr.... three shots on target, all in the first 18 minutes, from Taylor, Jordy Hiwula and Cook. Do keep up..... :roll:

[MPSADDLER]

Who's smith going to blame after this? Decent referee, nice pitch. Hmm.

Of course it will be the refs fault. Mark my words, that will be the excuse AGAIN in the post match interview.

SMITH OUT!

[Welsh_Saddler]

Attendance 5,239

Flanagan on for Cain, 66 min

[paddy]

2 down & changes Cain for Flanagan....joke