Tuesday night saw a rollercoaster of an encounter take place at Brisbane Road, as Leyton Orient and Peterborough United played out an enthralling 2-2 draw.
The hosts took the league through a sublime finish from Welsh full-back Tom James after 20 minutes, before The Posh turned the game on its head within 5 minutes before the halftime break. Kwame Poku bagged the equaliser before Orient keeper Zach Hemming was adjudged to have brought down Ricky Jade-Jones for a penalty in first-half stoppage time.
Former O’s academy prospect Malik Mothersille cooly converted from 12 yards, but his goal was cancelled out within seven minutes of the second half, when on loan Queens Park Rangers forward Charlie Kelman ensured the two sides would share the points.
Here are three things we learnt from the match as a whole and as always, let us know in the comments your thoughts.
1. The Orient Press
Something that you can clearly see Richie Wellens has been working on with his side in pre-season is pressing from the front as a team, trying to win the ball back in areas high up the pitch and not let the opposition play out from the back with ease. This is something that worked all evening and what was particularly impressive was the effort of Kelman, a player that Wellens was desperate to bring back after his initial loan in E10 two seasons ago.
On another day The O’s could have forced visiting goalkeeper Jed Steer into causing a match-defining error with the intensity of the press, with Dan Agyei blocking a clearance from the goalkeeper in the first half that with a bit more luck could have ended up in the back of the net and it was very encouraging how Orient kept forcing the visitors to keep going back to the goalkeeper, as a result of relentless man-to-man pressure.
2. The Use Of The Long Throw
Ever since he joined the club in 2022, O’s fans have been very aware of Tom James’ long throw ability. However frustratingly, a lot of his attempts would be cleared by the first man, and at times it would seem like Orient were just trying to launch the ball into the box without much of an idea about who was supposed to make contact with it.
However yesterday saw the long throws for the first time in a while become a real threat of an attacking set-piece for The O’s, central defender Dan Happe made good first contacts with a couple and what was very impressive was the amount of players switched on to win the second ball. This was what led to Kelman’s goal, after the ball was kept alive very well by Ollie O’Neill following an attacking throw.
Later on in the game opposite full-back Jack Currie also hurled a long throw into the penalty area, which is another positive as if they properly master creating more chances from these throw-ins, they now have another full-back who is able to create chances from the touchline.
3. The Impact Of Jack Currie
For a long period of time now the Leyton Orient fanbase have been crying out for a new left-back that is athletic and can both defend and attack to a League One level.
The young full-back joined Richie Wellens’ men on deadline day on a season-long loan from Oxford United after winning player of the season for AFC Wimbledon last season and has so far really impressed in red and white. Currie made four tackles last night up against a very quick and clever Peterborough attack and had an impressive passing accuracy of over 70 percent as well.
However what really impressed was his ability to get up and down the left-hand side, including a fantastic driving run in the 73rd minute, which drew a yellow card from Posh defender Sam Curtis, after a clever chop inside – it is fair to say Jack Currie has had a really impressive first three league starts for Leyton Orient.
Writers View
Following the formidable performance at Stockport County on the weekend, last night saw another impressive performance from Leyton Orient against a side widely tipped to be involved in the promotion race, and aside from a five-minute lapse in concentration at the end of the first half, may feel as though they could have walked away with a third win from as many league matches.
A huge improvement since the international break, where Orient sat bottom of the table after an embarrassing 3-0 defeat to Shrewsbury Town. An even bigger challenge is to come on the weekend however, as league leaders Wrexham visit East London.
