O’s So Thin On The Ground

With Football League hostilities set to resume this weekend, we test the readiness of each of the Capital’s representatives ahead of the new campaign.

On this occasion we visit the Matchroom Stadium for the low-down on Leyton Orient’s attempts to go one better than previous seasons and finally reach the League One Play-offs or even automatic promotion.

2013/14 Preview: Leyton Orient

Having narrowly missed out on the play-offs in May and with an owner still fighting tooth and nail for a ground-share of the Olympic Stadium from 2016, Leyton Orient fans could be forgiven for thinking theirs was a club on the up.

While owner Barry Hearn was in parliament last week in hot pursuit of a ruling that would appease his anger at the way he feels West Ham United have been given State support in their purchase of the lease to Olympic Park, manager Russell Slade was overseeing a highly pleasing pre-season run, which has taken in victories over Chelmsford City, Welling United and New York Cosmos, along with a well-earned draw against a Queens Park Rangers side featuring Joey Barton behind closed doors at Brisbane Road on Saturday.

Tonight they took on Arsenal in front of their own faithful with several trialists attempting to impress sufficiently to be incorporated into a squad which is currently in need of bolstering.

Ahead of the meeting with an Arsenal development side, Slade noted:

“I think we’ve a good group but it is a little bit thin.

“We certainly need two more players – a senior midfielder is a priority while I’d also like another striker.”

Of the group seeking a dotted line on which to sign, former Chelsea defender Ben Sampayo would likely have been most eager to succeed and he played the second 45 as he continues to rebuild his career having been unwittingly dragged into the trial of four fellow players accused of sexual assault while at Brighton and Hove Albion.

Also making an appearance in the second period were Watford’s out of favour Ross Jenkins, 20-year-old Northern Irish midfielder John Gorman, who did his chances no harm by coolly capitalising on a goalkeeping error to put the home side 4-2 up, only for a late Arsenal rally to salvage a draw, and George Bowerman, who was released by ex-Orient defender and assistant manager Dean Smith’s Bournemouth this summer.

Sampayo and midfielder Jenkins were two of five to appear as trialists as a young side lost at St. Albans on Friday night and deputy boss Kevin Nugent, who spent seven years as a player at Brisbane Road, did not rule out an increased reliance on youth this season in the absence of more experienced additions to the squad.

Nugent declared himself encouraged by the performance and said of a group also featuring on-trial defender Joe Kizzi, midefielders Scott Donnelly and David Lounhongou, and striker Adda Djaziri:

"We'll have to wait and see. We do have a small squad so they're young and just starting out and it would be nice to see some of the home grown lads coming through, but obviously it's not easy."

Orient have already made moves in the market since May. As well as extending his own stay in Waltham Forest, Slade, who has been in charge since 2010 when he helped the club to survival from deep in the mire, is aiming to kick on this term with the signing of 23-year-old French forward Yohann Lasimant and now has an array of accomplished frontmen from which to pick, also consisting of Kevin Lisbie, 34, David Mooney, 28, who recently signed a new 2-year deal and scored a beauty against the Gunners to make it 3-2 and Shaun Batt, 26, after the club made his move from Millwall permanent last month. Charlie MacDonald, 32, signed on a free transfer from MK Dons in January, has left for Oldham Athletic.

As the O’s enter their eighth consecutive season in the third tier, which begins with a trip to Carlisle United on Saturday, and having finished a single place outside the play-offs in two of the last three seasons, surely the key to their push for promotion this time around will be the form of deadly hitman Kevin Lisbie, who hit the second against Arsenal.

The former Charlton Athletic hot-shot scored 16 goals last season and goes into this campaign knowing this could be his last chance to be the fulcrum to a promotion push and is clearly raring to go:

The striker remarked:  

“It gets harder and harder, and as you get older you have to dig in more.

“The gaffer and the physio have been good with me and I’ve pulled out of a few sessions, making sure I get right for the game.

“I feel really sharp and the age isn’t kicking in yet.”

While he understands the rotation policy in place at the club, particularly in relation to the older players, and has referred to Slade as “the perfect manager [for me] at my age” he is still chomping at the bit to get as much goals and game time as he can eke out of his ageing bones:

“I want to get more goals than I did last season and more games; I only played 26 games last season so I’m hoping that if I get more games then I’ll get more goals and the team can do well while I’m doing that.”

Crucial to the cause will be the contribution of midfield men Dean Cox, currently nursing a knee ligament injury the club hope is not too serious, and the versatile Romain Vincelot, 27, who can also fill in at centre back but gave a good account of himself in the engine room during the first half of the Arsenal game, the Frenchman having signed a 3-year deal in June following a successful spell in East London during the second half of last season. Teenage prodigy Harrison Georgiou will also look to make an impact in what could be a breakthrough season for the creative Cypriot.

If the club wish to chase the dreams of ambitious owner Hearn and compete with West Ham for their own East London fan base, they will, in all likelihood, need to begin climbing the divisions before West Ham’s proposed move in less than 3 years’ time.

To do so, Slade and his staff will need to marginally expand the roster currently at their disposal or hope that injury does not curtail the campaigns of any of the squad’s vital components. Otherwise, Hearn and co. could see their side fall just short yet again.