Leyton Orient defender Callum Kennedy heads the ball forward with manager Alberto Cavasin looking on in the background (pic: Simon O'Connor).
Leyton Orient’s winless run in League Two stretched to five games after Portsmouth beat them 1-0 at Brisbane Road.
Christian Burgess scored the only goal of the match in the 57th minute to give Alberto Cavasin a defeat in his first match at home.
The Italian watched his side struggle for long periods and they’ve now scored just once in their last six games.
Nigel Atangana missed out against his old club with the groin/hip flexor injury still causing him problems.
Harry Cornick, on-loan from AFC Bournemouth, wasn’t available either with the same injury as Atangana.
Cavasin made five changes to the team which started at Southend United with Alex Cisak back in goal ahead of Sam Sargeant.
Yvan Erichot returned in place of Aron Pollock and Jens Janse was in for suspended captain Robbie Weir.
Jay Simpson and Paul McCallum returned up front and as a result Jordan Bowery and Ollie Palmer were among the replacements with Alan Dunne after his impressive cameo on Tuesday night.
It was a frantic start to proceedings at Brisbane Road as Ulrich Nnomo, on his first start in the league, linked up with McCallum and won a corner.
Although it was cleared by Pompey, two minutes later and Simpson played in McCallum, but his deflected effort was saved by David Forde.
The Portsmouth supporters and players were celebrating less than 60 seconds later when Conor Chaplin guided Enda Stevens cross into the corner.
Fortunately it was ruled out for offside but moments later and Liam Kelly innocuously went down and was stretched off.
Eventually Sandro Semedo was introduced in the ninth minute with Cavasin doing his utmost to bring the winger on before a Pompey corner.
The visitors should have at least test Cisak from the set piece as Gary Roberts picked out Amine Linganzi, but the midfielder headed wide when unmarked.
Semedo moved out to the left afterwards with Massey now partnering Janse in the centre of midfield.
Orient were furious they weren’t awarded a penalty in the 12th minute when Yvan Erichot seemed to be dragged down by an opponent.
Referee Christopher Sarginson was unmoved and it remained goalless at Brisbane Road, although that perhaps should have changed in the 16th minute.
Erichot passed back to Cisak who had Chaplin closing him down and the Australian tried to trick the Portsmouth forward.
But instead the Orient goalkeeper got his touch wrong and the ball rolled loose for Roberts just inside the area.
Pompey’s attacker cut back for Chaplin, but Cisak atone his error by making a strong save before O’s survived.
It boosted the confidence of the visitors and they put Cavasin’s team under a lot of pressure, but the east Londoners stood firm.
Orient were growing in confidence too, although in the 29th minute nearly gave away a penalty after some poor play.
Callum Kennedy’s pass went straight to Roberts and he found team-mate Kyle Bennett inside the area.
Bennett fell to the floor after Massey initially appeared to make a challenge, but Orient’s makeshift central midfielder pulled his foot out of the challenge and Sarginson duly booked the Portsmouth winger for diving.
Cavasin made the decision to switch Nnomo and Sandro afterwards, but it was Pompey who looked more likely to open the scoring now.
A poor header by Nicky Hunt in the 38th minute presented Bennett with a chance, which he dragged wide, although Chaplin was close to converting his off target strike.
Three minutes before half time and Roberts had a shot deflected wide after Carl Baker’s dangerous corner.
Orient managed to survive and despite three minutes of stoppage time, it remained goalless at half time.
Dunne was introduced at the break taking the place of McCallum and lining up in midfield as O’s played a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Massey was part of an attacking three behind Simpson which included Nnomo and Semedo.
The tactical switch made Orient more solid after the break and the decision to give Massey more of a license to get forward seemed a smart one.
And that especially seemed the case in the 55th minute when Dunne won the ball inside the Pompey half and tried to chip old Millwall team-mate Forde from 25-yards.
Unfortunately for the O’s the Portsmouth goalkeeper managed to jump high enough to catch the ball.
Two minutes later and the opening goal of the game was scoring and it went to the visitors.
Baker’s corner was met strongly by Burgess and he headed into the corner and past Cisak.
Orient struggled after the goal with Pompey looking the more likely to grab the second goal of the game.
It was Paul Cook’s team that pressed and the east Londoners were void of ideas and couldn’t keep hold of the ball.
Cavasin called for Palmer to warm up in the 78th minute and introduced the big forward four minutes later.
Although his presence helped O’s win a corner kick, after a couple of blocked efforts, Portsmouth survived.
Four minutes of stoppage time were added on, but Orient never looked like scoring and suffered a fifth defeat at Brisbane Road this season.
Leyton Orient: Cisak; Hunt, Erichot, Parkes, Kennedy; Massey, Janse, Kelly (Semedo 9), Nnomo (Palmer 82); McCallum (Dunne 46), Simpson.
Unused substitutes: Sargeant, Bowery, Pollock, Benedicic.
Portsmouth: Forde; Evans, Burgess, Clarke, Stevens; Doyle, Linganzi (Davies 67); Baker, Roberts, Bennett (Lalkovic 82), Chaplin (Main 67).
Unused substitutes: O’Brien, Rose, Smith, Naismith.
Attendance: 6,078 (1,328 Portsmouth supporters).