RUSSELL SLADE was thrilled to see a gameplan executed to perfection as Orient ended their wait for their first npower League 1 points of the season at Swindon on Saturday.
Following three successive defeats, the O's finally got off the mark thanks to Lee Cook's 59th minute goal in a 1-0 victory.
Slade felt the three points were the right reward for his team's endeavour, and he wasn't surprised to see that first win come sooner rather than later.
He said: "It was a really solid performance and I thought it was coming. For 60 minutes at Crawley we did OK, and today it was a solid performance.
"We created a couple of really good chances in the first period - one for Kevin Lisbie and one for Michael Symes - where perhaps we could have gone in front, but it was great that one of the new boys managed to slot the all-important goal in the second period.
"We were positive from the start, we knew they like to play from the back, so we went with two strikers to push on to them.
"That proved to be a successful gameplan. We stuck to it and that was the important thing, keeping that focus and concentration which we managed to do.
"I was quite enjoying the game, even at 1-0. There weren't too many moments of panic, we dug in there and we had a really good focus.
"I truly thought we would see the game out and so we did.
"All of a sudden, from a gloomy start to the season - played three, lost three - now we've won a game and with two home games to come the place is a little bit brighter."
As well as the obvious influence of Cook, another new boy, Martin Rowlands, played a similarly large role in the victory in the heart of Orient's midfield.
Slade believes the pair's experience will come to the fore as the Londoners look to climb the table in the coming weeks.
He added: "I've talked about the know how and experience that those two will bring to the table and they're only going to get better.
"I thought Rowlands was excellent in midfield and he's only going to get better because obviously he's still behind in terms of fitness, and that's the same with Lee.
"The more game time they get, the more they're going to bring to us."