O’s Hunting For Victory Against Hawks

Orient manager Justin Edinburgh made plenty of changes in the 2-0 defeat to Maidstone United, which saw Orient fail to qualify for the FA Cup first round proper.

The O’s fielded a fresh side with starts for Sam Ling, Matt Harrold, Dan Happe and Alex Lawless. However, second half goals from Blair Turgott and Elliott Romain meant the O’s crashed out at the final qualifying stage.

Speaking to Orient’s official YouTube channel, Edinburgh believed his side lacked a cutting-edge in the final third:

“We’re getting caught in-between being a passing team, over-emphasising that and not being as direct as we should be in the final third.’’

With focus once again back on the league, Orient will be looking to find that killer instinct and return to winning ways, thus putting an end to an inconsistent run in the past couple of weeks.

Orient didn’t just make changes to the team-sheet, but tactical changes saw them play three in defence as Edinburgh admitted ‘no recognised left-back’ was available with Joe Widdowson suspended. The left-back will serve the second of his three-match ban making him unavailable this weekend.

The Opposition

Hawks’ manager Lee Bradbury will travel to East-London hopeful of putting an end to a drab spell. With only two wins in the National League this season, his side sit four points above the bottom of the table.

Havant and Waterlooville have not won a game since their 2-1 home victory against Aldershot Town in early September. Consistency has been hard to find as the newbies try and adapt after gaining promotion.

The club have no injuries ahead of the trip to E10 and like Leyton Orient, suffered defeat in the FA Cup, losing 1-0 to the Metropolitan Police with Jack Mazzone netting the winning goal for The Met.

Ones to Watch

Vice-captain Charlie Lee will look to influence the game at The Breyer Group Stadium this Saturday. The experienced midfielder was devastated to have been knocked out of the FA Cup and is now looking forward to getting back out onto the pitch, telling Orient’s official YouTube channel:

“I grew up loving the FA Cup, I’m devastated, we’ve got to look for a reaction on Saturday.’’

The midfielder has enjoyed being back on the field after recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury that virtually wiped him out of action last season.

Alfie Pavey’s performances for Havant & Waterlooville merited an international call up for England C. The 23-year old striker feeds on balls in behind and works hard for his side. Finding the net twice for his club this season, Pavey will be looking to add to his tally and keep improving.

Previous Six Results

Stat Attack

• Havant & Waterlooville striker Alfie Pavey has already scored at the Breyer Group Stadium this season, netting the winning goal for England C who beat Estonia U23’S 1-0.
• Orient have the best goal difference this season. The O’s average 2.9 goals scored for every one goal conceded and currently possess a +19 goal difference.

Unknown Quantities

This is the first ever league fixture between the two sides. Following Havant & Waterlooville’s promotion to the National League South, these sides finally find themselves in the same division. The return fixture is scheduled to be played on March 2^nd 2019.

Did you know?

Havant & Waterlooville are not an old club. In 1998, Havant Town and Waterlooville merged to form The Hawks. The South Coast side find themselves in the National League for the first time ever.

When and Where?

The game will take place this Saturday 27^th October with kick-off scheduled for 15:00.

If you fancy a trip to The Breyer Group Stadium, simply head to Stratford station and take one stop eastbound on the central line to Leyton station.

The ground is no more than a ten-minute walk from here and is sign posted around the area, meanwhile you can enter E10 5NF into your phone and follow the directions.