Good wibble.
Like many of the teams towards the top end of the League One table, Leyton Orient are little more than a tiny speck as we look the long way up from the dingy surroundings of bottom place. Defeat at Rotherham United wasn’t the end of the world, but we’re now a whole six points from safety. We’re very nearly at the point where only a defibrillator is going to keep our hopes alive of remaining in League One. We need a cunning plan…
The glass half full verdict points towards the fact that Leyton Orient have now gone four league games without a victory and have lost four of the last seven home league matches. And in the three previous meetings between the sides down in East London, we’re yet to come away from their gaff with our tails between our legs. That’s because we’ve won two and drawn one down at Brisbane Road. A record to preserve, if you’re looking.
Now for the glass half empty verdict, and brace yourselves. The Os have gained 21 points from losing positions this season, which is a high for the league and makes you think one solitary goal won’t be enough. In fact, you don’t have to think that – you know it won’t be enough against a team that has scored in 15 successive League One games. That’s “fifteen” if you weren’t paying attention. They’ve only drawn a blank once this season.
What made our 3-2 win over Leyton Orient in the Paint Pot Trophy so unusual earlier on this season is the number of goals scored. If you add together the goals from all four prior league meetings between us and them, you’d still be one short. What we’re trying to say is that there isn’t much of a goalscoring history between us in the league, but we reckon that goals will be forthcoming tonight. We just better make sure we get more than them. Easy.
[expand title=”WE’VE MET BEFORE…”]
| 12 Nov 2013 | H | Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Quarter Final (South) | 3-2 |
| 17 Aug 2013 | H | Sky Bet League One | 0-1 |
| 02 Feb 2013 | H | npower League One | 0-1 |
| 21 Aug 2012 | A | npower League One | 1-0 |
| 02 Jan 2012 | H | npower League One | 0-1 |
| 19 Nov 2011 | A | npower League One | 0-0 |
| 07 Dec 1996 | A | FA Cup R2 | 2-1 |
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[expand title=”REFEREE WATCH”]
The good people at the Football League have appointed Trevor Kettle to take charge of our trip to Leyton Orient, and it’s not a name we’ve been too delighted to hear in the past. But we’re not sure why looking back through the archives – we first had him in 2002 for a FA Cup tie at home to Hastings United, yet we were almost sure our association with him amounted to more than just five games since. Apparently not, as it turns out…
The other surprising detail is that we’ve got a good record when Mr Kettle takes charge of affairs. In those five, we have won three – the most recent of which came at Notts County earlier this season. It’s one of 23 games he’s overseen this campaign and he’s not afraid to brandish the cards. At an average of 3.52 yellow cards per game, his total of 81 bookings isn’t entirely modest. But then again, he has dished out just the two reds by comparison.
This season for Trevor Kettle:
Games: 23 — Yellow: 81 (3.52pg), Red: 2
Our record under Trevor Kettle:
P5 W3 D1 L1 F6 A4 — Yellow: 15, Red: 1
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[expand title=”FIFA 14 VERDICT”]
Team:
Day; Smith, Ashton, Hartley; Akins, Mousinho, Heslop, Doughty, Freeman; Morais; Zoko
If GW has decided that three at the back is the way to go from here on in, then that’s good enough for us. The most notable changes we made was dropping Big D to the bench, while recalling Michael Doughty to the starting eleven. That was because we’re not sure if Big D will be fully fit after the knock picked up against Rotherham. And Doughty’s selection was at the expense (just) of Dean Parrett, a player of whom we’re fans of.
The good news – we didn’t win this game. As we said last time out, winning at FIFA14 is a bad omen for Boro’ it seems. But we made a super start and Doughty justified his place in the team by opening the scoring after four minutes. We continued to dominate but didn’t manage to find the telling second goal. The game evened out, we conceded a shocker of an equaliser and the match finished as it had started – level. Still, a point gained…
FT: Leyton Orient 1-1 Stevenage (Lisbie 37; Doughty 4′)
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[expand title=”BOOKIE BASHING”]
Titan Bet are the guys with the risk-free £10 bet waiting for you to put down on our latest outing down at Leyton Orient, and there’s 70 markets for you to choose from. We have an alright record at their gaff, so the draw at 27/10 and away win at 4/1 aren’t to be ignored if you ask us. Goals have been at a premium in this fixture before, however – Under 1.5 is yours for 5/2. But Over 2.5 has been a habit for both of late – get it at 5/6 here.
But if you’d rather, check out what the alternatives are offering.
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