Ahead of tomorrow’s game with Cheltenham Town, Brendan Pitcher spoke to Leyton Orient Head Coach, Ross Embleton to get his views on the mid-week win against Mansfield and preview this weekend’s clash with the Robins at the Jonny Rocks Stadium.
Last time out was the victory against Mansfield, how pleased were you with that performance?
“Very, I think they were two very similar performances in terms of the Macclesfield game and the Mansfield game.
I think we were the dominant team and were in control of both performances but the difference between the two was that little bit more focus and that little bit more edge about seeing out the latter stages in the game, which we did a lot better despite conceding on Tuesday night, that led to the fact we won that one and didn’t win on Saturday.”
Orient have now got seven points out of a possible nine and have only lost one of the last six, is there a sense that you’re finding some real consistency and some real form now?
“Definitely, I’d say that our last six games have been of a better nature. Obviously, there’s areas of our game that we want to perform better in, we’d like to create more chances, we’d like to be able to score a few more goals to take those pressurised moments off of us.
But I do feel as though for the first time this season, we’ve managed to settle into a style and a way of playing and getting more control in games. I don’t think we’ve given up as many chances against us for that reason and the moments when we’re under that little bit more pressure have been reduced a lot, in terms of not having to be under the cosh and defending quite so much.”
You made several changes against Mansfield, some were enforced, some weren’t, how happy were you with the lads that came into the side?
“Very, I think that’s a real credit to the players that in a very busy fixture schedule we haven’t had a lot of time to work, we’ve also added a number of players to the group in that time, so I’m really pleased.
Whenever you make that amount of changes, whether they are enforced or to freshen the group up, for the players to come in and deliver a very similar type of performances to a very similar level is something that I’m really pleased about.”
Looking forward it’s Cheltenham next, they’re flying high in the table at the minute. What are your thoughts on that one?
“They are flying high, they’re a good team. I don’t think I’d be talking them down in terms of saying that they’re probably not a team we’d have expected to see in the position and have had the season they’ve had at the start of the year.
I think a huge amount of credit to them, I think they’ve got some very good players, but I think they’ve got a real good team work ethic, they don’t give up a lot of chances and they don’t concede a lot of goals, so they’re going to be a tough nut to crack.
We go there with an immense amount of respect towards Cheltenham in a number of different ways. One because of the season that they’re having as a team, but also, I think there’s a real mutual respect between us and Cheltenham after the tribute that they put towards Justin at the start of the season.
It was an incredibly emotional day for us and there was an incredible emotional build-up to that occasion, and I thought that Cheltenham as a club and as a group of fans played an incredible part in that so there will always be that mutual respect between the two clubs.”
Like you said there is that real mutual respect now and they’re going to be wearing a special kit on Saturday in aid of the Holly Gazzard trust, it’ll be nice to repay that kindness by supporting that cause tomorrow won’t it?
“One hundred percent, and I think it goes without saying that if there is anything that we can do to contribute to anything that Cheltenham Town do on a big occasion like this to repay the favour, it’s a must.
We have to show that every respect and give them every ounce that we can in order to make that day as successful as it can be because they did that in abundance when they came to us.”
The O’s face Cheltenham this Saturday, with kick off scheduled for 3:00pm.
