I have to say that Orient is one of my favourite away days offering a trip to the ever so colourful east end with its total traffic mayhem, great old pubs and great choice of fast street food.
Pre-match a drift down from Walthamstow Central to that lovely old Victorian Pub the King William IV and a glass or two of what must surely be the best value beer in London, relay nice ales and all at under £3 a pint; what is there not to like! Yes, East London is what it is, crowded, incredibly slow crawling traffic but vibrant and alive: always a pleasure to visit. As I always say, following the Hatters especially away from home, is much more than the 90 minutes of a game, maybe that’s only half of the occasion. The other half is the very enjoyable and wonderful spirit, comradeship and banter shared by the many like-minded folk that follow our great club. Orient, have a very nice tidy ground with pleasant welcoming supporters, a good place to visit. The ground is fairly old but has been modernised and to me, toilets apart, seems really fit for purpose and well run. Looking back it just seems so silly that Orient with their relatively small numbers of very Loyal supporters made all that PR fuss a few years ago about wanting to move to the Olympic stadium, simply daft, plain daft. The gate was given as 5471 but if you take away the official & home end attending Hatters that gives under 4000 home supporters plus those free view balcony dwellers. Orient in truth have a nice tidy little ground with decent seating and the wisdom to place way supporters down one side of the ground, love it! As it turns out I missed the Justin episode in the warm up where he tweaked a muscle and had to be replaced before KO by O’Donnell; a bit of a surprise but at least it happened before we kicked off and did not rob Nathan of any tactical use of his game-changers for later in the match. Prior to this enforced change Nathan had decided to draft Cook, Gilliead and Rea into the team at the expense of Pelly, Gray and the suspended Lee. Personally, I think that it must have been a close call for Cam retaining his place as his form has been way below what he is capable of delivering. The game itself was a fairly lively affair with both sides probing away; we did not sit back and Orient were not afraid to come forward. A nice Orient move almost gave them the lead as the Ex-Mansfield striker Ollie Palmer dived low to head the ball just outside of Walton’s left-hand post. In one sense that would have been some goal and in another sense fairly slack defending from the Town but I have to remember we are in the 4th tier of English football and things just aren’t going to be perfect all of the time. Our side were putting some attractive moves together and enjoying the extra space afforded to away teams compared to what we are used to working in at Kenilworth Road. We were seeing some attractive football with Cook, Marriott, Hylton and Gilliead heavily involved. In fact, Gilliead was looking particularly good. He has the will to get back and seek the ball and then the skill to take on defenders and create opportunities; I hope that this, his second start, is followed by more regular opportunities in our starting line up. In fact, it was that hard working Gilliead who won possession and then sent the ball over for Marriott to very cleverly make space in order to have a pop at goal which was pushed out by the Orient keeper only for McGeehan to pounce with a simple tap the ball into the open net: 1-0 to the Hatters. Great joy and I have to say what great scenes of celebration and support from the 1400 or so travelling hatters. After we had taken the lead, I can’t really say that I remember Orient coming anywhere near close again in the first half; ok, there were crosses into the box etc but really just so ably dealt with by our defence and that had the superb Rea playing as holding mid-filed. Thinking of that holding position, surely it’s time to abandon the experiment of playing the willing Olly Lee in that role: Lee certainly has some footballing gifts but holding midfield just ain’t one of them. The second half started with Orient trying to push Luton back but not really creating anything much in the way of a threat to our defence apart from a Massey deflection that crept the right side of the post as far as us hatters fans were concerned. Our second goal came about from some good work by Marriott on the right-hand side of the penalty cutting in yet instead of having a shot himself he played it to the better placed Danny Hylton who thundered the ball into the back of the net: great play Jack, great play Danny. I should also mention that Marriott did really well in a breakaway when cutting in this time from the left he made just enough space in the area to blast a shot at goal that hit the post and the alert Cook almost got a finishing touch to but Orient were saved by some decent reflex work from the keeper. Also in another swift flowing breakaway move the impressive Gilliead cut in from the right and sent in a powerful shot that went over the bar, it could so easily have been 3-0 at that time. So there we go nicely cruising along with a two-goal lead and the usual question was can we see the game out and keep a clean sheet; well I suppose that’s two questions really but the second question was answered when Orient pulled a goal back. You have to give credit to Orient who tried to create what they could but playing against a town team with Rea patrolling so well in front of the back four just severely limited their opportunities. True, O’Donnell did try to use his appalling back-pass technique to let Orient back in the game but we got away with it; not a bad player our O’Donnell but for me, nowhere near the player that Justin is for our team. After the final whistle went, Nathan came over to his barmy army to once again demonstrate that Jones speciality, the self-administered CPR technique; just marvellous stuff and let’s enjoy it while we can, simply great supporters and a great club. Overall, a really decent away performance in the style that is so typical of NJ's team approach involving, for the most part, organised defending and swift counter-attacking that has brought three wins and only two defeats in seven away games. Ok, you could rightly argue that we were poor in the Crawley defeat and in the Cheltenham draw but we really should have had all the points from the away games at Stevenage and Pools: not orange tinted specs simply an often critical but hopefully fair view of a travelling fan. It must also be said by the absolutely marvellous travelling support for the Hatters at Orient as they backed their team from beginning to end and thoroughly enjoyed the sharing of passion with Nathan at the end of the game: loved it! A few more thoughts: For holding midfield, it really has to be Glen Rea over Olly Lee and that’s by some very great distance in my book. I quite like Olly but I would rather see him used when required in front of Rea and not in place of Rea. O’Donnell did well enough for most of the game but just how does Nathan get that suicidal back-pass routine out of O'Donnell's character? Just why does he do it? Is Jack Marriott out of form? Well, an easy question to answer; he had a bloody good game at Orient. He was involved in both goals and hit the post in a really decent move; definitely along with Danny Hylton our first choice striking partnership. Gilliead has had two starts in the league team and some substitute appearances. Strangely his two starts have both been away from home at Pools and Orient and in both games, he played very well indeed with the ability to carve open the oppositions defence. Surely these qualities are also needed in our home games because it is at home where we seem to struggle most as the opposition managers set to stifle our more creative types yet apart from double marking, I can’t see how they could easily stifle Gilliead. The Sunday Rant: Just a quick thought on Cameron McGeehan: don't sulk your way to the bench when you are subbed, better to accept it and acknowledge your travelling supports who generously applauded you as you left the pitch. Why do I keep having a go at Cameron a guy who wades in with plenty of goals from midfield? Well, the reason is that I feel he needs to have a real look at himself and make some adjustments to his approach to the game that would enable the real quality player within to emerge. Incidentally, I could easily write the same about Pelly. To my mind with a focused McGeehan & Pelly operating midfield we would be near unstoppable in this league. Some thoughts on Individual Performances: Walton: did everything asked of him and made a couple of very decent saves and commanded very well in the air. ODonnell: came into the side for Justin who picked up an injury in the warm-up. As is so often the case with O'Donnell, a complete mixture on offer; one decent defending and a couple of neat suicidal attempted pass backs. Cuthbert: another commanding game on his return to his former club: the guy is in really decent form. Sheehan: in addition to some good defensive work he managed a couple of worthy efforts from range on the Orient goal. Potts: not a bad defensive game but his style of play seems to always stall forward moves that he is involved in. If we played 4 4 2 then I think he would be a good fit but he is just not a wing back. Rea: for me, Rea was really absolute class as he carried out his midfield ball-winning role. Most definitely for me the preferred option for that crucial holding role in midfield. McGeehan: scored that all important first goal and had a better game than he had last week. However, still not performing to the level we know he is capable of. Cook: he got involved in most of our forward moves and did not disappear from the game as he challenged for possession and took defenders on. Overall one of his more consistent games. Gilliead: this lad is real class and can unlock the oppositions defence. in my view he had a terrific game and should definitely start against Mansfield next week. Marriott: oh how I wished he had managed to score to reward his endeavour. As well as setting up Hylton's goal, he cut in beautifully from the left to send a shot against the post. Hylton: well what can you say? Simply the forward we have been missing and the total pain in the arse for all opposition defenders; the sort of player you would simply hate to play against. He was just great yesterday as he constantly gave the O's defenders a really tight time; challenging for every ball in the air, skilful on the ground and smart enough to see opportunities to bring others into play. The Subs: Well only Smithy of the subs used had enough minutes to merit a comment and as ever you know what you will get from this great club man; total but total commitment. I don’t really see Smith as a starter these days but I do see him as a truly valuable member of the squad who will get plenty of game time coming off the bench when we need to close things down a little. The Teams: Luton: Walton, O’Donnell, Cuthbert (c), Sheehan, Potts, Rea, Cook (Mullins 90), Gilliead (Gray 90+2), McGeehan (Smith 84), Hylton, Marriott. Subs not used: Banton, Vassell, King (GK) Orient: Cisak, Hunt, Erichot, Parkes, Kennedy, Massey, Atangana (Dunne 75), Janse, Semedo, Simpson (McCallum 68), Palmer. Cards: Yellows for Hylton and O’s Smedo for a touch of silliness rather than dirty play. The referee for the day was a bit of a surprise in it being Trevor Kettle and once again; was that a late change as I thought another referee, Ollie Yates, had been named for the game? I have to say that Mr Kettle refereed the match well; no moans from me.
2 Comments
Spencer
10/16/2016 10:42:27 am
Love your reports, couldn't make the game yesterday but it sounds like the fans as well as the team were up for it. Reason for the comment was just to agree on your comments regarding McGeehan and Pelly Ruddock, two of the most exciting, strong attacking midfielders in the league, unfortunately so rarely do they turn up for 90 minutes or get involved when the game is tough, for big strong blokes the only real time they perform is either when the TV cameras are on site or the weathers nice. Such a shame as I think they are both unstoppable when they have the bit between their teeth with pace and skill to burn.
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