O’s boss admits below-par performance despite Morecambe victory as Declan McCarthy reports.
Leyton Orient player-manager Kevin Nolan admitted his side didn’t punish 10-man Morecambe enough despite claiming a 1-0 victory.
The O’s moved back into the Play-Offs with the narrow win following a Ryan Edwards own goal 10 minutes from time, but Nolan felt Orient should have made the most of their man advantage following Barry Roche’s 12th minute red card.
“I think today sums up our home form, we came out and were doing well. Morecambe then had their man sent off and we didn’t really punish them enough,” said Nolan.
“We then started to get nervous, we started to do stuff which we are not supposed to.”
Nolan admitted the task to beat Morecambe became more difficult after the visitors went down to 10 men when Morecambe goalkeeper, Barry Roche got sent off for a foul on Jay Simpson inside the first half.
Following Roche’s sending off, Orient top scorer Jay Simpson was denied from the penalty spot by substitute goalkeeper Keiran O’Hara, and Nolan admitted the task became more difficult after that.
Determined visitors
“If they would have had 11 men on the pitch, we would have continued to probe and do the right things,” he continued.
“We started to take that extra touch, we tried doing things purely because they were sitting in so much.”
The result for Morecambe means they have only one win from their last 12 games, but Nolan praised the visitors determined performance.
“I thought they battled so well, fantastically well in fact, and will be probably really disappointed they couldn’t get any points in the end,” Nolan remarked.
Throughout the match Orient dominated in possession but lacked the cutting edge when it came to making the most of goal scoring situations, but Nolan was keen to turn that into a positive.
“I’ve just said to the boys, when you want to be a successful side, when you are not doing the right things the majority of the time but manage to win a game it is fantastic. That’s what they’ve done today without really playing well.”
Orient are back in action this Saturday when they travel to promotion rivals Accrington before returning to the Matchroom Stadium on Easter Monday when Hartlepool United are the visitors.