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02 February 2014

GUEST POST! Rotherham 2 Leyton Orient 1, 1/2/14

Until yesterday Orient's league record during my stay in Berlin was played four, won four. A coincidence? Yes. But never mind, for once again Andy Brown - Orient blogger for WAGU and The Two Unfortunates - has stepped in to give his take on events... A game in which... Orient played with all the conviction of mice up against a Panzer division…while stuck in a wind tunnel. And a game in which the back story wrote itself as ex-O Alex Revell popped up to score the winner for the hosts deep into injury time after Orient forgot that the final minutes are meant to be spent standing in a corner of the opposition half while defenders kick you repeatedly in the back of the legs.

Orient had started on the backfoot as Rotherham mixed up a combination of howitzer long balls and nice inter-play that completely overran the Orient midfield. Despite being kicked up in the air on a regular basis, the Os showed resilience to stay in the game and scored a cracker when Dagnall’s cross was taken down by Odubajo who angled a shot into the top corner. Nevertheless, a bizarre inability to hold onto the ball in the 94th minute resulted in Revell's winner.

Still, it was only Orient’s second defeat on the road and it is nice to see Brentford will need to go to Rotherham on a Tuesday night in March! Meanwhile Orient have a game in hand to rectify things...

Moment of magic... Not too many to choose from today, but Moses Odubajo’s composure and sublime finish typified his class. But it was a rare moment of quality in tough conditions.

Moment of madness... Toblerone-footed deadline day signing Ben Alnwick slicing a kick some way short of the halfway line deep into injury time. Following that, Dean Cox was outmuscled and Alex Revell proceeded to slam in as Vincelot and others decided to watch rather than tackle, robbing Orient of what would have been a hard-fought point.

Top gun... A tough call, as nobody looked especially convincing for Orient today. Pringle and Thomas were the best players on the pitch, while Orient’s stand out player was probably Odubajo, who continued to battle - and scored a cracking goal - despite being kicked up in the air repeatedly.

Little donkey... With a thousand forwards to choose from - including young, hungry loan signings - it is somewhat baffling that Russell Slade continues with his Robbie Simpson love-in. It took 56 minutes of doing nothing for Slade to figure out that Mooney was blatantly a better option.

In the dug out... Russell Slade realised that Lloyd James was being outmuscled and replaced him with new permanent signing Marvin Bartley, which helped Orient get a foothold back in the game. Why he persisted with Simpson for 56 minutes is anyone’s guess, but otherwise there was little more the gaffer could have done to ensure a more positive outcome. Afterwards Russell bemoaned Orient’s utter nativity in injury time. “If you want promotions and to be successful, you’ve got to manage the game at all times”, he rightly observed. View from the opposition... Pantomime baddie Steve Evans was bizarrely all sweetness and light in the programme notes and continued this after the game. “I think it was a good performance from two good teams… the match was really end-to-end and it took something special to win it." Maybe he’s been on an anger management course?

Facebook post of the week... Os fan Lee Swallow offered some valuable advice on how to kick a football for new keeper Ben Alnwick. Maybe he can brush-up before Orient's massive game against Peterborough next Saturday?
Posted by Matt Simpson at 09:34 Labels: Alex Revell, Ben Alnwick, Moses Odubajo, Robbie Simpson, Rotherham