Leyton Orient returned to the top of League Two on Saturday as they registered a hard-fought win away at Carlisle United.
Hotshots
Two superb first-half goals from winger Theo Archibald plus a fine finish from Aaron Drinan in the second gave The O’s their first win in four league matches.
Orient’s task was made slightly easier shortly before half time when Carlisle forward Ryan Edmondson was shown a straight red card for an off the ball incident in which he lashed out and caught Orient captain Darren Pratley in the face.
Richie Wellens initially made two changes to the Orient team that drew 0-0 with Northampton Town last weekend as Darren Pratley and Idris El Mizouni came in for Craig Clay and Jordan Brown. However there was a last-minute change to the team when Paul Smyth dropped out of the starting eleven and Ruel Sotiriou came in to take his place.
Carlisle Manager, Paul Simpson, made two changes to his team as Kristian Dennis and Fin Back were preferred to Jack Ellis and Jack Stretton.
The O’s showed no signs of lethargy from their long trip up to the Scottish border as they scored the afternoons first goal after just two minutes. Theo Archibald scored a wonderful solo goal as he dribbled with the ball from the halfway line before rifling his shot beyond Carlisle goalkeeper Tomas Holy’s reach and into the bottom corner.
Orient almost doubled their lead in the 9th minute when Ruel Sotiriou attempted to produce a finish similar to Archibald’s early goal, but he couldn’t keep his effort on target.
Carlisle who were unbeaten in the league since August found an equaliser when Ryan Edmondson got on the end of Callum Guy’s corner and nodded past Lawrence Vigouroux. However, The O’s got themselves back in front just two minutes later when Jon Mellish lost his footing on the edge of his own penalty area while under pressure from Archibald. The Orient winger stole the ball from the prostrate Carlisle defender and produced an audacious chip to score his second of the afternoon.
Controversy
There were two moments of controversy in the 36th minute. First, Callum Guy’s cross appeared to hit Tom James’ arm in the penalty area, but the referee waved away the Carlisle players’ fervent appeals. Then, in the aftermath of the penalty claim, Darren Pratley was seemingly struck in the face by a frustrated Ryan Edmondson. The Carlisle goalscorer was subsequently shown a straight red card by referee Thomas Parsons.
Archibald almost completed a hat trick in the 42nd minute but saw his effort flew just wide of the Carlisle goal.
Resilience
Richie Wellens’ team started the second half racing out of the blocks similarly to how they had started the first half. Orient took advantage of another mistake by Carlisle when Archibald’s pass forward to a clearly offside Aaron Drinan was touched by Corey Whelan, allowing The O’s forward to collect the pass and race clear of the defence. Drinan produced a fine finish from a tight angle to score his team’s third.
Just when it had seemed as though Drinan’s goal had put an end to the contest, the ten men of Carlisle struck back. Fin Back was the creator as he won the ball back inside the Orient half, played a one-two with Jon Mellish and set up Jordan Gibson to finish past Vigouroux at the far post.
Gibson’s goal galvanised the home crowd who sensed an opportunity to achieve a result that had seemed unlikely after Edmondson’s red card.
The O’s remained resilient in the face of the home side’s pressure and limited Carlisle to speculative shots from distance, ensuring they left Cumbria with the three points that moved them back to the top of the table.
Edited by Malachi Gowie
