Boz
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- 30 Sep 2005
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- Iain Hume
Having read that it was about 25 years since Orient won here, then arrived at the ground 20 minutes before ko to find no programme-seller in place, I kinda had the feeling it was going to be one of those days.
Rovers fell behind to an early goal from Dawson. The volley seemed near unstoppable, but the amount of space he was given was bad defending. Rovers were probably the stronger for the remainder of the half, but on the stroke of half-time, Nielsen failed to hold onto a shot and a simple tap-in put the Os 2 up at the break.
Second half Alliyu-Latif replaced Blanchard. Orient started the half stronger, but Wootton got us back in the game finishing a Cresswell free-kick. Despite bombarding their goal, the closest we came thereafter was a Goodi effort hitting the bar.
Player ratings;
Nielsen 3 A Gulasci-style howler for the second goal, but Gunnar made none of the Hungarian's redeeming saves. In fact the only save of note was after his bad kickout straight to an Orient player. Collister wouldn't have done any worse.
Cresswell 6 Some good work on the attacking side of his game with set pieces, but not at his strongest defensively.
Goodison 6 Not at his imperious best, but great saving block after some Nielsen dithering near the end, while he came close to scoring at the other end.
Grandison 5 Bit of a mixed bag. Tended to be too fond of the back-pass, most noteably the overhit one near the end, which Nielsen handled and he didn't link up well with Goodison today.
Wootton 5 Was given a tough afternoon by Orient winger, not helped by a harsh booking for what looked like a perfectly good tackle. I'm not sure if any of our other right-backs would have done much better though and he did get the goal. However he would be better deployed as a central defender.
Blanchard 4 Not his finest 45, gave the ball away far too cheaply with aimless, ill-directed passes.
Welsh 6 Worked fairly hard without making a great deal of impact.
Mantom 5 Looked a bit less lost than on his debut. The attacking side of his game showed promise, needs to work more on defence and distribution.
Jennings 7 Some trademark skill, beating men, one promising short corner routine where perhaps he should have tried to pick someone out rather than going for glory from a difficult angle.
Showumni 6 One of those days for Enoch, two one-on-ones where he should have done better.
ITM 5 Strangely subdued, unsure when he picked up an injury.
Subs;
Elford-Alliyu 7 Looked promising attacking their full-back and not afraid to track back.
Fraughan 5 As was said after the Hartlepool game, he needs to look for the simple ball more rather than aiming for a killer pass every time. One great ball to Dale. Defensively, his reluctance to tackle is a weakness.
McGurk 5 Didn't make much impact during his limited time on.
Referee. I cannot remember so many decisions going against us in a game. In the first half, every time an Orient player fell over, he awarded a foul. Unimpressed.
This was a very bad result, given Orient were without both regular central defenders and a couple of key midfielders. That was compounded by none of the matches elsewhere falling our way. Our next 3 league games are a visit from the 6-goal Owls, sandwiched between trips to Swindle and Brentford, hard to see us picking up anything from these. Lose all three and we are most certainly deep in the brown stuff.
Rovers fell behind to an early goal from Dawson. The volley seemed near unstoppable, but the amount of space he was given was bad defending. Rovers were probably the stronger for the remainder of the half, but on the stroke of half-time, Nielsen failed to hold onto a shot and a simple tap-in put the Os 2 up at the break.
Second half Alliyu-Latif replaced Blanchard. Orient started the half stronger, but Wootton got us back in the game finishing a Cresswell free-kick. Despite bombarding their goal, the closest we came thereafter was a Goodi effort hitting the bar.
Player ratings;
Nielsen 3 A Gulasci-style howler for the second goal, but Gunnar made none of the Hungarian's redeeming saves. In fact the only save of note was after his bad kickout straight to an Orient player. Collister wouldn't have done any worse.
Cresswell 6 Some good work on the attacking side of his game with set pieces, but not at his strongest defensively.
Goodison 6 Not at his imperious best, but great saving block after some Nielsen dithering near the end, while he came close to scoring at the other end.
Grandison 5 Bit of a mixed bag. Tended to be too fond of the back-pass, most noteably the overhit one near the end, which Nielsen handled and he didn't link up well with Goodison today.
Wootton 5 Was given a tough afternoon by Orient winger, not helped by a harsh booking for what looked like a perfectly good tackle. I'm not sure if any of our other right-backs would have done much better though and he did get the goal. However he would be better deployed as a central defender.
Blanchard 4 Not his finest 45, gave the ball away far too cheaply with aimless, ill-directed passes.
Welsh 6 Worked fairly hard without making a great deal of impact.
Mantom 5 Looked a bit less lost than on his debut. The attacking side of his game showed promise, needs to work more on defence and distribution.
Jennings 7 Some trademark skill, beating men, one promising short corner routine where perhaps he should have tried to pick someone out rather than going for glory from a difficult angle.
Showumni 6 One of those days for Enoch, two one-on-ones where he should have done better.
ITM 5 Strangely subdued, unsure when he picked up an injury.
Subs;
Elford-Alliyu 7 Looked promising attacking their full-back and not afraid to track back.
Fraughan 5 As was said after the Hartlepool game, he needs to look for the simple ball more rather than aiming for a killer pass every time. One great ball to Dale. Defensively, his reluctance to tackle is a weakness.
McGurk 5 Didn't make much impact during his limited time on.
Referee. I cannot remember so many decisions going against us in a game. In the first half, every time an Orient player fell over, he awarded a foul. Unimpressed.
This was a very bad result, given Orient were without both regular central defenders and a couple of key midfielders. That was compounded by none of the matches elsewhere falling our way. Our next 3 league games are a visit from the 6-goal Owls, sandwiched between trips to Swindle and Brentford, hard to see us picking up anything from these. Lose all three and we are most certainly deep in the brown stuff.
