Leyton Orient’s title hopes suffered a setback as they were downed 2-1 by 16th placed Bromley on Tuesday night.
Goals from Frankie Sutherland and Reeco Hackett-Fairchild were enough to cancel out Josh Coulson’s opener in a fractious affair at Hayes Lane.
Justin Edinburgh made two changes from Saturday’s stalemate at Barnet. Charlie Lee replaced skipper Jobi McAnuff, who suffered a groin injury at The Hive, whilst Jay Simpson came in for Josh Koroma up top.
Perfect Timing
Orient’s first chance of the game came from a set piece in the 12th minute. James Brophy whipped in a corner which Coulson rose to meet, only to see his effort blocked on the line by a combination of goalkeeper David Gregory and full back Sam Wood.
The O’s looked comfortable in possession but with the home side happy to sit deep and soak up pressure, the visitors struggled to create many clear cut chances.
That was until right at the end of first half stoppage time. Lee’s long throw caused chaos in the Bromley penalty area before that man once again, Coulson, was on hand to sweep the ball home and score his seventh of the season.
Game Changer
If the end of the first half seemed like a dream for the O’s, the start of the second was more like a nightmare.
Just two minutes after the restart, Marvin Ekpiteta brought down former O’s winger George Porter in the box, leaving referee Will Finnie with no choice but to award a penalty and reduce Orient to ten men.
Sutherland, who spent a brief spell on loan at Brisbane Road in 2013, stepped up for The Ravens and smashed his spot kick down the middle to put his side back on level terms.
Buoyed by their man advantage, Bromley looked to take the game to the O’s and gained the lead through Hackett-Fairchild in the 63rd minute.
Frankie Raymond delivered a pin-point cross onto the head of the Charlton loanee, leaving Dean Brill with no chance in the Orient goal.
Boiling Point
In an attempt to turn the tide back in his sides favour, Edinburgh made a double substitution shortly after the goal. James Alabi and Koroma replaced Simpson and Alex Lawless. Both subs added extra energy to a tired looking O’s side and a run from Koroma provided a flash point in the 74th minute.
Porter, a former Orient player, seems to relish coming up against his former employers. However, his enthusiasm got the better of him and he was lucky to escape a red card when he made a rash challenge on Koroma after the O’s forward had skipped past him.
Referee Finnie, deemed it a yellow card offence which caused outrage among Orient players and supporters alike with the ensuing melee taking several minutes to calm down.
Seeing Red
In the aftermath of the scuffle, referee Finnie made sure Ekpiteta wasn’t the only O’s man to receive a red card when he sent off assistant manager Ross Embleton, for what looked like a choice use of words towards the team of officials and the Bromley dugout.
Meanwhile, Bromley manager Neil Smith took Porter out of the game by his own accord while he still could. The next 10 minutes or so were punctuated by foul after foul from both sides as the game began to boil over.
A brief moment of football did break out however, when Bromley right back Richard Brindley produced a brilliant strike on his weaker left foot that would have nestled in the back of the net if not for the woodwork.
Bouncing Back
Orient could have snatched a point in the fourth minute of stoppage time. Koroma stood over a free kick some 25 yards from goal, laying a pass down the side to Brophy who flashed the ball across the face of goal, Macauley Bonne met the cross but leaning back he could only direct his effort up and over the bar.
Bromley could have added a little gloss to their victory in the dying embers of the game, but Raymond prodded wide after a mix up between Joe Widdowson and Brill left The Ravens midfielder with an open goal.
The result means Orient stay top of the league with a one point advantage over Salford. The O’s will now look to Saturday when they face Halifax at The Breyer Group Stadium, where they will hope to get their promotion push back on track.
