The date is the 16th of December 2023, Leyton Orient are playing away to bottom-of-the-league Cheltenham Town. One-nil down with a man extra, seemingly staring at a relegation dogfight with supporters furious at both players and management.
Now, fast-forward to today, the O’s are one of the most in-form teams in English football and have steamrolled their way into the top half of the Sky Bet League One table.
🧱 Lovely build-up and a cool finish! 🥶#EFL | @leytonorientfc pic.twitter.com/eSDmthQI9B
— Sky Bet League One (@SkyBetLeagueOne) February 7, 2024
It’s fair to say that Leyton Orient have had a topsy-turvy first season back in the third tier, and this article will dive deeper into the more recent turn of form, from the 85 minutes of doom and gloom at Cheltenham Town to miraculously being within seven points of the playoffs as of writing.
Richie Wellens’ men went into mid-December being one of the most out-of-form sides in the division, with no wins in their last eight previous matches in the league. With Cheltenham being bottom of the league and also going down to ten men when Ben Williams was shown red, the O’s faithful were expecting to come away with three points.
Nevertheless, when Will Goodwin converted a 68th-minute penalty for the hosts, a significant amount of those travelling supporters expressed their anger at the management team and the players, having created nothing in attack and going behind to the side bottom of the league with a man less.
However, rather fortuitously, two late deflected strikes secured Orient an incredible comeback to turn zero points into three, with Ethan Galbraith’s winner coming in the 93rd minute, sparking absolute pandemonium in that away end. You could tell that this moment raised the confidence levels not only amongst the players but also among the fans, with their side finally showing the little bit of character they had been waiting on for so long.
After such a high, Orient confidently cruised into their next match away at high-flying Bolton Wanderers, hoping to repeat the trick, but it seemingly all went to pieces very early on – with Wanderers scoring three goals in the opening 10 minutes at The Toughsheet Community Stadium to bring the O’s back down to Earth after the jubilation of the previous week. They went in at the break 3-0 down, having barely laid a glove on their hosts and offered very little in attack.
But whatever Richie Wellens said at the break seemed to work a treat in the second half as Orient were a completely different side. A surprising tactical switch saw Watford loanee Shaq Forde, who had been playing the entire season as a central striker, moved out wide to play on the right wing. The move paid dividends after just 10 minutes, with the youngster pulling a goal back to ignite the impressive away following. Theo Archibald rescued another five minutes later from Forde’s cross and the last 30 minutes had the visitors knocking on the door to find a leveller.
Whilst they were unable to level the score and lost the match 3-2, the travelling fans and players left Bolton with their heads held high knowing if they played how they did in that second half against teams weaker than Bolton in this league, they could start putting some results together – and, boy, have they not looked back since.
The results that followed accompanied the introduction of forward Dan Agyei, who missed the first part of the season due to injury after joining the club following an impressive campaign for Crewe Alexandra last term, scoring 16 goals. He set up Omar Beckles for a 1-0 victory on Boxing Day at home to Charlton Athletic and scored a wonderful solo goal away at Cambridge United on New Year’s Day to round off a comfortable victory. With a goalless draw to Wycombe Wanderers sandwiched in the middle of those results, all of a sudden Orient not only had seven points from a possible nine but also three back-to-back clean sheets.
What happened next was beyond most people’s belief, with Leyton Orient heading to top of the table Portsmouth, who beat them 4-0 on their own patch in the reverse fixture. Nevertheless, Orient came out with all guns blazing and were three goals to the good at the break. Shaq Forde, now playing as a predominant winger, opened the scoring after a beautiful through ball from Max Sanders, and further goals from Jordan Brown and Agyei ensured victory for Leyton Orient. Even the prolific Pompey striker Colby Bishop was denied from the penalty spot by goalkeeper Sol Brynn. It was a morale-boosting and statement performance from Wellens’ men, who completely played Portsmouth off the park.
The game that followed was no easier, with Bolton coming to Brisbane Road, who were the last team to defeat Leyton Orient and would have been hoping to score three in ten minutes as they did in the reverse fixture. But they too were the next team to suffer at the hands of the East London outfit, suffering a shock defeat in E10, with Agyei scoring the only goal of the game for the O’s. It was a real testament to how far Orient have come in such a short space of time, not conceding, and beating two teams who had lots of joy against them in reverse fixtures. This subsequently was the fifth consecutive clean sheet for them too, the first time they have done that since the ’70s.
A frustrating draw at Reading followed by victories over Carlisle United and Port Vale have propelled Leyton Orient to the top of the form table and, a side destined to be in a relegation battle, are now outside playoff dark horses. Despite losing Agyei to injury once more, there are now goals coming from everywhere on the pitch, with top scorer Ruel Sotiriou fit again and Forde looking lively every time his side go forward.
So from the visible anger and frustration shown at Cheltenham before added time and looking nervously over their shoulders, to dreaming of playoff glory, the turnaround in form has been fascinating and very satisfying to watch, with a huge amount of credit going to manager Wellens, who has shrugged off the few people on his back to provide positive results in style.
Whilst being a Leyton Orient fan this season has not been easy at times, it is fair to say that now is a very exciting time to support the club. Having brushed up on conceding goals as well as looking a lot more deadly and clinical in attack, Leyton Orient can now go toe-to-toe with any team in this division and have proved it with their impressive wins over high-flying Portsmouth and Bolton.
Playoffs may be just out of reach but the O’s have certainly seemed to have turned it all around with no defeat in 2024 and positive performance building upon positive performance. Long may it continue.
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