Leyton Orient recorded back-to-back Football League wins for the first time since August 2016 with a 3-1 win over Walsall. Goals from Joe Widdowson, Matt Harrold and Conor Wilkinson, cancelled out Stuart Sinclair’s opener to secure a comfortable home victory for the O’s.
Interim manager Ross Embleton made one change from last weekend’s win at Northampton, with Myles Judd replacing the injured Sam Ling at right-back, and his side started well in front of a sold out crowd at the Breyer Group Stadium.
A couple of set pieces from summer signing Josh Wright caused problems for the visiting defence early on.
First the former Southend man curled a free-kick just wide, after some neat footwork from Dale Gorman had drawn a foul on the edge of the area. Then his corner was diverted goal-wards by Dan Happe, only for the centre back’s header to be hooked off the line by Rory Gaffney.
Against The Run Of Play
However, Orient couldn’t take advantage of that promising start and, somewhat against the run of play, the Saddlers took the lead in the 21st minute. A low cross from Zak Jules was spilled by O’s keeper Dean Brill and after a brief scramble Stuart Sinclair poked home to put his side one up.
That setback didn’t deter the O’s though and just five minutes later they had the ball in the back of the net. Craig Clay slipped in Matt Harrold, who duly finished into the bottom corner, only for the linesman to immediately scupper the celebrations by raising his flag for offside.
Turn Around
Orient went into the half-time break a goal behind, but whatever Embleton and his coaching staff had to say during the interval clearly had an effect as just three minutes after the restart they were level via the unlikeliest of sources.
The ball fell kindly to left back Widdowson on the edge of the box, who then curled a magnificent effort into the far corner with his weaker right-foot. The strike was a fitting way for the man nicknamed ‘Mr Consistent’ to mark his 100th appearance in Orient colours.
Not content with being level, the home side pressed on to find the goal that would put them in front and on the hour mark they did just that.
A mix-up at the back between James Clarke and Danny Guthrie, allowed Clay a clear run on goal and faced up by a covering defender and an on-rushing goalkeeper, he took the sensible option to square it to Harrold, who calmly finished to net his first goal of the season.
Marching Orders
Spurred on by the fervent crowd, Orient continued to attack and they had a third in the 75th minute. James Brophy chested the ball into the path of Conor Wilkinson and his deflected shot wrong footed Liam Roberts in the Walsall goal to give his side some breathing space.
Wilkinson’s joy would be short lived however, as five minutes later he received his marching orders from referee Ben Toner for foolishly getting into an off-the-ball scuffle with Dan Scarr.
Fortunately for Orient though, his dismissal didn’t prove costly and the home side saw out the remaining stages of the match with ease to secure their first home league win since the opening day of the season.
Next up for the O’s is a trip to Lincolnshire on Saturday to take on 10th place Grimsby Town.
Orient: Brill, Judd, Coulson (C), Happe, Widdowson, Gorman (Marsh 68), Clay, Wright, Brophy (Dayton 90), Wilkinson, Harrold (Alabi 83)
Subs: Sargeant, Ogie, Maguire-Drew, Dennis
Goals: Widdowson (48), Harrold (60), Wilkinson (75)
Bookings: Harrold (33), Happe (59)
Red: Wilkinson (80)
Walsall: Roberts, Clarke (C), Scarr, Sinclair, Kinsella, Holden (Adebayo 68), Guthrie (Norman 64), McDonald (Gordon 68), Liddle, Gaffney, Jules
Subs: Rose, Sadler, Hardy, Bates
Goal: Sinclair (21)
Booking: Scarr (80)
Attendance 6,951 (852 away fans)
Referee: Ben Toner
