A wonder strike from Jordan Maguire-Drew and Josh Coulson’s header earned Leyton Orient a hard fought 2-1 victory away at Havant and Waterlooville on Saturday.
Justin Edinburgh tweaked his tactics for this game, employing a 5-2-1-2 formation as opposed to his usual 4-4-2.
The change in formation could partly be to blame for the cagey opening as the O’s looked to acclimatise to their new system.
The first chance of the game didn’t come until the 18th minute.
Joe Widdowson found space on the left hand side and looped a ball into the back post where Sam Ling was waiting, but unfortunately for the away side Havant keeper Ben Dudzinski was equal to his effort.
Audacious Opener
Orient would get even closer to breaking the deadlock in the 25th minute. A Havant corner was cleared, and Maguire-Drew managed to nick the ball off the covering defender just inside his own half.
The former Brighton man embarked on a lung-busting run into the opposition penalty area with Macauley Bonne to his right, but opted to go alone and his effort curled just past the post.
Orient’s number ten wasn’t to be denied ten minutes later though. The ball bounced in front of him 35 yards from goal and he hit an unbelievable strike that nestled right into the top hand corner of Dudzinski’s net.
Height Advantage
The home side had their first real effort just before half time when striker Alfie Rutherford’s shot from the edge of the area was deflected away via the head of Coulson.
A difficult surface at The Westleigh meant that both sides struggled to string together many passing moves, while there were little incidents of note at the beginning of the second half.
That was until the O’s threatened from two consecutive corners on the hour mark, with that man Maguire-Drew on the deliveries again.
The first was met by Dan Happe, looking to score his second goal in a week, but his effort was cleared by the Havant defence for another corner.
On the second occasion, Marvin Ekpiteta rose highest and looked to have doubled Orient’s lead only to be denied by the crossbar.
Pegged Back
Despite controlling most of the game, Orient started to look edgy and began to drop deeper to protect their lead. Havant capitalised on this in the 67th minute when they equalised through the in-form Rutherford.
The 20-year-old’s shot was blocked on the edge of the box, rebounding straight back for him to strike a sweet half-volley into the top corner to score his 11th goal of the season.
Jubilant Josh
The O’s almost responded in the best possible fashion just five minutes later when Maguire-Drew hit a rasping shot that had Dudzinski beaten all ends up, only to see it rattle the woodwork.
That misfortune didn’t deter Orient who regained the lead moments later. A long throw from Ling was met by Coulson and his header looped into the back of the net, much to the delight of the 954 travelling fans.
Frantic Finale
Havant struggled to create chances to find another equaliser until deep into stoppage time. Joe Quigley seemed to have all the time in the world in the O’s penalty box, but he blazed his effort high over the bar.
However, that wasn’t the end of the drama. In the sixth minute of additional time, a Havant corner dropped in the six-yard box causing a mass scramble and confusion for the Orient fans situated behind the opposite goal.
Many were unsure what the referee had blown his whistle for when Dean Brill finally got his hands on the ball. You could audibly hear the sighs of relief once the man in charge signalled for a free-kick to the O’s.
Promotion Push
Once Brill hit the resulting free-kick long up field, referee Daniel Middleton blew the full-time whistle which secured Orient’s first away league victory since beating Wrexham on November 24th.
The result was vitally important for the O’s as pretty much all of their National League title rivals also picked up three points this weekend.
They’ll now be hoping to take confidence from this victory into Tuesday night’s game away at Barrow.
Match Stats
Orient: Brill, Ling, Ekpiteta, Coulson, Happe, Widdowson, Clay, McAnuff (C), Maguire-Drew, (Lee 84), Bonne, Simpson, (Harrold 75)
Unused subs: Sargeant, Turley, Brophy.
Booked: Ling (8), Clay (44)
Goals: Maguire-Drew (35), Coulson (74)
Havant: Dudzinski, Strugnell (C), Fogden, Lewis, (Sekajja 82), Quigley, Robinson, Rose, James, (Woodford 10), Rutherford, Cordner, Jalloh, (Paterson 67)
Unused subs: Harris, Paul
Booked:
Goals: Rutherford (67)
Referee: Daniel Middleton
Attendance: 2058 (954)
