Declan McCarthy reflects on the O’s start to the season following the 2-2 draw with Oxford United at weekend.
After the disappointment of relegation from League One on the final day of the 2014-15 season, Leyton Orient opted for a new approach in May as they appointed former player Ian Hendon as Head Coach.
Having spent the previous four years coaching at West Ham, the summer proved to be one of upheaval for Hendon as he brought in a number of new players and appointed the vastly experienced Andy Hessenthaler as his assistant, who himself ended a 20-year affiliation with League One outfit Gillingham to join the East Londoners.
The new management team made the ideal start to life in E10, as they picked up wins in each of their opening five League matches to top the division, culminating in Hendon being named as the Sky Bet League Two Manager of the Month, along with midfielder Dean Cox who picked up the Player of the Month award.
Blow
Despite being the early pacesetters The Os found September difficult, as a late defeat at Luton Town in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy started a run of six-matches without a victory for Hendon’s side.
As well as the dip in form, Orient were then dealt a huge blow following their draw at Northampton Town as summer signing Paul McCallum was ruled out for up to six months after suffering cruciate ligament damage to his right knee.
The start of October saw Orient return to winning ways with a 3-1 victory at home to Notts County, but the recent visit to West Sussex saw the O’s reduced to 10-men for the first time this season as they slumped to a 3-2 defeat at Crawley Town, despite taking the lead and dominating the opening period of the match.
Throughout the season Hendon has stuck to his favoured 4-1-2-1-2 diamond formation, even though a section of fans have called for a change in approach. Following the loss at Crawley the Orient Head Coach refused to blame his choice of formation, and instead demanded his side improve defensively.
“We could have been two up, possibly three, but we can’t keep talking about that as defensively we made mistakes,” the 43-year-old told the official club website.
“I don’t think it is our formation as we took the game to them for large parts,” he added. “I just think defensively we have to switch on and there is a lot of work to be done.”
One positive however has been the form of Jay Simpson in attack. The former Arsenal striker is now in his second season with the O’s, but has already surpassed his eight goals from last season and is listed as League Two’s top scorer with 10 from his opening 13 matches.
With tricky games at Luton and Morecambe coming up this week, October will continue to provide a stern test to see if the O’s can return to League One at the first time of asking.