Please Captain, don't jump in the lifeboat

I spent most of yesterday afternoon trying to recall a memorable Os v Colchester clash and since I started supporting the Os 6 months after the 8-0 record victory the best I could come up with was the 4-1 Cup replay win in 1990. I don't know about anyone else but since then I remember every clash as unremarkable and lacking in controversy or excitement. And yesterday was no different. The fact that the Os were refused a stonewall penalty but there was little fuss or complaint afterwards demonstrates just how poor a game it was. No one really cared who won or lost, or felt that the home team were denied a deserved point.
John Ward sets his side up to keep things tight in away games, to be in the game and try to grab at least a point, maybe 3. Before yesterday only Rochdale and Exeter had scored fewer goals away from home - only 5 times had conceded less than the Us. Colchester showed little creative flair (Plan A, B and C appeared to be punting the ball in direction of Leon McSweeney who struggled to compete in the air with Karl Duguid) but did have their chances. They were fortunate to score their goal, Henderson taking an air shot at Duguid's cross and the ball bounced off of Terrell Forbes and in. But in the opening minutes of the second half Gavin Massey rounded Butcher but missed the gaping goal, his shot striking the post, so on balance deserved a goal at least. Orient on the other hand failed to force Ben Williams to make a save following Lisbie's 6th minute shot which the keeper deflected wide.

The best Orient could manage were two penalty shouts. At the end of the first half Lisbie went down at the end of a run after coming into contact with two Us defenders. From distance it was impossible to work out who made contact with who but to me it looked like Lisbie was ready to go down as soon as he got in the box. The stronger case was for a late tackle on George Porter in the 72nd minute. Porter laid the ball in to Cureton but was the felled from behind by a sliding tackle. It was apparently too late for either referee or linesman to spot and the Os chance to grab a point was denied.

The question is why, for the second home game in a row, were the Os so lacklustre on their own turf? Questions do have to be asked of not only Slade's team selection but unwillingness to make changes until it was too late. With only Lisbie leading the attack, Colchester were able to defend comfortably by sheer weight of numbers, Orient's sole striker constantly disappearing into a phalanx of yellow shirts. Needing to stretch the game to counteract the overcrowding in the centre of the park the Os instead squeezed the midfield further, with even Dean Cox coming in off the wing and taking up a wide midfield position. When he did make the changes Slade took off our most offensive central midfielder Jimmy Smith, leaving the counterweight Laird on. Laird did OK again yesterday but he isn't the goal threat that Smith is. Slade would probably argue he felt more comfortable with the more defensive midfielder when bringing on a second winger but we were 1-0 down at home and failing to make any dent in the visitors defence. Hindsight proved the conservative approach was the wrong one, with Lisbie, Tehoue and Cureton barely getting a chance between them in the last third of the game. Two starting players (Smith and Mooney) who had been asked to play out of position were withdrawn, rather than being given the opportunity to assume their natural positions when the formation change that would have suited them was made.

But that in itself doesn't explain why the home team have come out flat in the last two games at Brisbane Road. It can't be pressure because the team are outsiders for the play offs and fan expectation is realistic.  The simple answer is probably the right one - the team miss Dawson. The only time Orient looked effective yesterday was in the short spells when they were able to win and retain possession. Without their main ballwinner, that didn't happen often enough. And without their skipper no one seems ready or able to rouse the troops when games don't start as we'd hope. That should make for a nervous week for Os fans because if Dawson isn't still at the club when the transfer window closes on Tuesday it is difficult to imagine that a suitable replacement for Orient's engine can be found in the loan market.

Ridsdale's New Dream (it's not going to be pretty)

Preston fans probably weren't too upset with the start to their first season back in League One following their relegation last year. A few will have expected them to bounce straight back but most will have been happy to be in contention for promotion and the club seemingly on an even keel. Then Maurice Lindsay stepped down as Chairman to be replaced by Peter Ridsdale, the man who sprung to fame as the man who nearly took Leeds out of existence. He then cemented his reputation by taking charge of clubs already in trouble, which was much easier than taking them from the top to the pits. Seeing Ridsdale arrive at your club is a sign you're about to sell off the stable door (and the straw, water, saddle and stable) after the horse has bolted. His first act as Chairman was to sack Phil Brown. Well you would wouldn't you, with your team 5 points off the play offs.

But Ridsdale had a masterplan. Having seen Preston kicked around by Stevenage in a nil-nil draw at Deepdale Ridsdale saw the future. Within days Brown was out and he finally completed his plan last week by appointing Stevenage boss Graham Westley to bring his 'style' of 'football' to this proud footballing town. Unfortunately it means that the Os face a Westley side with the bruises having only just eased from their last encounter with him. One would assume that he hasn't yet brought his unique methods to Preston but his new players will be under no illusions as to how to impress their new gaffer. Pack your tin hats (and shin pads) boys.

Orient last visited Deepdale at the end of the 1992/3 season, which saw Preston relegated and the Os miss out on the play offs on goal difference under Peter Eustace. Two seasons later the teams swapped places, the Os to languish in the bottom division for many years, Preston to progress to the Championship where they stayed until last year. Having thumped the Lilywhites 3-1 at Brisbane Road they went one better at Deepdale, running out 4-1 winners. It was part of a storming end to the season where a number of big wins weren't enough to overhaul the deficit created during the previous two months. Orient fans were to get used to promising seasons foundering during the first few months of the year.

All eyes will be on the Os teamsheet to see if new signing Dean Leacock makes his first start in an Orient shirt. There are high expectations and no one is sure where he fits into Russell Slade's plans. Orient's immediate problem is the absence of Stephen Dawson and Leacock can play in a holding midfield role, which would allow Matthew Spring a more attacking role that he did well in last season. But Leacock hasn't been a part of the Derby first team squad at all this season and it remains to be seen what his fitness is like after one weeks training with the Os.

Preston will be without their twin threat of Iain Hume and Neil Mellor and should send out the same eleven that beat Wycombe last Saturday unless Westley has found an ex-boxer or rugby player languishing in the reserves. Just as an amusing aisde, the Preston club website preview picks out Leon McSweeney as the Os 'bad boy'. Ben Chorley will be missing as he completes his suspension for his sending off against Stevenage. But I suspect that Leacock won't be able to play a full 90 minutes and so will start in midfield rather than defence. Os wouldn't sniff at a draw but having bounced back from the Carlisle disaster with a slightly lacklustre draw last Saturday I fancy them to come flying out of the traps this weekend and spoil Westley's first game in the Preston hot seat.

Leyton Orient 1 Chesterfield Juan

Expectation being the mother of disappointment, a 1-1 draw with bottom team Chesterfield gave birth to a tiny bundle of boos at the full time whistle. There are any number of statistics that demonstrate just how bad a season the Spireites are having – a solitary away win, without a clean sheet in 22, 7 points adrift at the foot of the table. Before the game a new one cropped up, that Chesterfield had failed to score in the league against Orient in Leyton or Clapton for 102 years. That was unlikely to be their top riority though and that despite their desperate position Chesterfield would play for and be very happy with a draw – a scoreless draw being a bonus.

Tommy Lee : Will feature in the
video highlights

That ambition went south just before half time, David Mooney repaying Russell Slade’s decision to retain him in the starting line up despite Jamie Cureton breaking his duck at Carlisle. Lee Cook delivered a number of crosses across the front of Tommy Lee’s goal but the first time he aimed at the near post Mooney nipped in front Neal Trotman to deliver an expert finish. The game hadn’t been pretty but with the lead and an untested Lee Butcher a spectator, everything appeared to going to plan to a certain extent.

In the expectation that Chesterfield would come with a defensive mindset and with Dean Cox’s return from injury overlapping with the last 2 weeks of Lee Cook’s loan Slade re-shuffled his line up to supplement his attacking threat and accommodate his best players. But there wasn’t a person in ground who didn’t expect the Os to play with two wingers when they saw both Cox and Cook on the teamsheet. Instead Os lined up with Cox just inside Cook, Smith tucked in on the right and Spring sitting deep in more central position. An attacking line up but not a formation that would stretch an embedded defence.

Jimmy made it Juan Juan

The tactic wasn’t a complete failure – Cox was tidy and Cook remained a threat, although play between the two was stuttering rather confident. And if Slade really did believe two wingers was a step too far, not many fans would have taken the option of playing Laird instead of Cox in centre midfield. When that change was eventually made (with Laird coming in for Cook rather than Cox), it wasn’t long before the pros and cons of the alternative option where there for al to see. In his more familiar position Cox was a more constant threat to Chesterfield on the flank than Cook, albeit Cook provides a little bit more quality with his final ball. But within minutes of coming on Laird was caught standing off his man Jimmy Juan in the area as Jack Lester crossed into his path. Laird’s reaction was cumbersome, Juan having the time to turn and shoot past Butcher for the equaliser. It is a shallow fan who hopes someone scores just for the sake of a pun and I have a suitably shame face this morning. Juan scored one but Juan nearly made it two one, a spinning shot well saved by Butcher just a few minutes after the equaliser.

The full time whistle was met with a short but vocal collection of boos and criticism of Slade’s line up. But the Os didn’t play that badly and could have wrapped up three points if they had taken their chances in the first half. Orient didn’t open up their visitors as often as they might but the chances were there. Lisbie also had a great opportunity in the second half but shot straight at Lee. But instead of sitting back waiting to be picked up Chesterfield were full of effort, pressing Orient all over the field, which was enough to disrupt the flow of the home sides play and we failed to create as many chances as we might have liked. 

The line up, with the attacking threat focussed down the left, required Leon McSweeney to get forward from right back to balance things on the other flank. Indeed Os best scoring chance in the first half an hour came when Cox was able to switch play to the right and McSweeney immediately found Lisbie in the box. Unfortunatly his poachers effort was straight at the keeper. Other than that McSweeney was fully occupied and unable to get forward and the Os, not for the first time, looked an unbalanced team. Chesterfield weren’t able to completely contain Cook and Cox but knowing where the threat was always coming from certainly helped them.

Orient have to take points off of teams like Chesterfield if they are serious about the play offs but despite a morale sapping season Chesterfield haven’t given up and played with energy and spirit. They deserved both credit for that and a point for the effort they put in - a great example to any struggling side.

Memo from Turner

The visit of Chesterfield is the latest return to Brisbane Road of Chris Turner, this time in the role of Chesterfield's CEO. A diminutive goalkeeper Turner defied the odds and became a reliable stopper for Sheffield Wednesday, Manchester United, Sunderland and eventually Leyton Orient. He did well in the early days of his Orient career but as age caught up with him it exposed his lack of height and he ended up more a liability than an asset. Witness his hapless performance in the 5-4 cup tie with Dagenham and Redbridge in 1992.

However he’ll always be more readily remembered for playing a supporting role in famed documentary Orient : Club for a Fiver. Turner managed to avoid the greater share of criticism for Orient’s relegation in 1994/95, mainly as a result of being viewed, through the television lens at least, as almost the sleeping partner in the joint-managerial post he shared with John Sitton. But still, with the exception of thirty odd first team games out of a total of 58 total appearances, his career at Orient wasn’t a distinguished one.

He started his solo managerial career in 1999 with Hartlepool, immediately helping Pools avoid relegation and then reaching the League Two playoffs in each of the next three seasons. He ended up leaving before achieving promotion (which Pools secured six months after his departure) to take the managers post at Sheffield Wednesday. The Owls ended up getting relegated from the Championship that season. This was followed by a 16^th place finish in League One the year after and chairman Dave Allen sacked Turner the following season with the Owls languishing in 14^th. Although Wednesday were trying to dig themselves out of a huge financial hole left after relegation from the Premiership Turner had been give £500k during the close season and paid the price for the poor results.

Turner then joined Stockport in 2004 who like Wednesday were relegated in his first season and he was relieved of the position in 2005 with County bottom of the league. Turner returned to Hartlepool as Sporting Director and helpfully kept the managerial seat warm for 2 years as caretaker manager before finally leaving the club altogether in 2010. He was rumoured to be part of a consortium headed by Dave Allen which intended to become the new owners of Sheffield Wednesday. When this was unsuccessful Allen became the majority shareholder of Chesterfield and he appointed Chris Turner as his new CEO just before Christmas. It seems a strange choice, replacing the previous CEO who was someone with no background in football, with someone with just a football background. If it was Turner’s ambition to see how football clubs are run, so badly, then he has achieved it, having managed clubs in dire financial straits a number of times. He will certainly have seen how not to do it – time will tell if he has learned the secret to success as well. At least with the Os offering cut price hospitality, he won’t have to bring his dinner.

The Os might be without inspirational skipper Stephen Dawson but they will be expected to win on Saturday. Chesterfield are rooted to the bottom of the league, 7 points adrift from safety. Only 5 of their 16 points have come on their travels, their only away win coming at Bournemouth the week after drawing 0-0 with Orient back in September. You have to fear for a side that couldn’t beat the Os at home during the first two months of this season. That draw was the start of a 4 match unbeaten run but the 3 wins in their next 3 games were to be their last until now and things are bleak in the town with the crooked spire. That run of four games saw them concede a solitary goal but as their form has dipped they have since failed to keep a clean sheet in 21 games. For the Os, boss Russell Slade has threatened changes but the size of the squad means that most players who featured in the disastrous lost at Carlisle will keep a chance to redeem themselves before Slade dips into the transfer/loan market.

Dr Strangelove (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love a Cup Run)

Jamie Cureton scored his first goal in an Orient shirt against Carlisle yesterday but there was absolutely nothing else positive for Orient that happened in the entire game that bears dwelling on. Going behind after just 52 seconds Orient were never in the game before Stephen Dawson, the driving force behind most comebacks over the last 18 months, limped off after 15 minutes, then back on and then finally off for good. Losing the inspirational skipper for any number of games is probably more serious than one away defeat, however resounding. The disastrous early months of the season when Dawson was absent and then struggled for match fitness showed just how important he is to the team. On the bright side it’ll give him plenty of time to sort out his new contract and the silver lining could be that the club hang on to him in the transfer window. Personally I think that a club would have to offer more money than Bournemouth did for Charlie Daniels for it to be worth losing the captain mid-season, regardless of the fact that he could walk away at the end of the season for free. Whatever money we receive for him could quickly be swallowed up if we ended up going down for lack of a leadr on the pitch.

Another poor defensive showing saw the Os ship 3 more goals before Cureton headed in Dean Cox’s free kick. But if you looking for that new cliche, positives, his goal may also have an impact on the bigger picture for Orient. Cureton missed two chances before finally taking his goal and if it restores his confidence and is the first of many Os fans may look on an awful day in Cumbria a little more fondly. As the rest of the football world focussed on the Third Round of the FA Cup this was the day that Orient were able to "concentrate on the league" and a push for the play offs. Conventional wisdom holds that if you are involved in a promotion or regulation battle, the FA Cup is just an unwanted distraction. The middle-classisation of football has seen the romance go out of the game, as the stands are filled with people familiar with risk assessments and mitigation measures. People don’t want the excitement of the Cup, they want to see their team consolidate its league position and avoid financially damaging relegation. The FA Cup has been damaged by football's equivalent of "health and safety guv". All of which might be sensible – were it true.

Not another Champiosnship side away

A year ago Orient knocked Premiership bound Norwich City out of the Cup. Injuries and tiredness weren't an issue, with the winter freeze leading to only 2 games being played in December – one of those the epic 8-2 win against Droylsden in the second round replay. The Os were in a similar league position as they are now but without any of the confidence that they wouldn’t be involved in the relegation dog fight, especially having been hammered 5-0 at Brighton on New Year’s Day. But even after knocking Norwich out, the common consensus after a disappointing fourth round draw, away again, at Swansea was that we’d have been better off going out and focussing on our league battle. But in the intervening two weeks the Os earned solid draws against Rochdale and MK Dons and took Sheffield Wednesday to pieces at Brisbane Road. When they then proceeded to dump Swansea out on their own ground, suddenly the distracting Cup run became the spring board for a run and the Os rode the momentum to the very edge of the play offs. Even the Arsenal games failed to have an immediate damaging impact – Orient earning a creditable draw at Huddersfield after the first game and winning 4 straight games after eventually being knocked out. The run was viewed as being key to our success. The only downside was the fixture congestion at the end of the year but was as much to do with the multiple postponements in November and December as it was the cup games.


An easily forgotten Third Round exit to Sheffield United in 2009 aside, last season was the first time in 5 years that Orient fans were able to get excited about the FA Cup. In the promotion season a dire second round victory at Rushden and Diamonds set up a London derby with Fulham. The Os went into the game in good form, sitting third in the league (the position they’d eventually finish in) and having won 4 of their last 5 games. But after beating Fulham the nerves set in when Orient were beaten by promotion rivals Northampton. However, the loss had more to do with the Brisbane Road pitch, which resembled Woolacombe Beach that season. Orient were set up to play football and that game in wet conditions was a battle in the trenches that the home team weren't up to. The nerves set in again after finally being knocked out by Charlton in the fourth round as Orient failed to register a win in their next four games. It turned out not to be terminal though and without that poor run automatic promotion would have been sealed long before the end of season clash with Oxford United and who would trade in that excitement just for a few wins in February?

Of course Orient’s most famous Cup run was in 1978, when a total of seven ties took them all of the way to the Semi Finals – not because they started in the First Round but as a result of needing replays against Norwich, Chelsea and Middlesbrough in the 3rd, 5th and 6th rounds respectively. The run wasn’t accompanied by a successful league challenge, quite the opposite. Orient finished 14th out of 22 teams in Division Two that year but incredibly avoided relegation by just a single point, with the Os, Luton, Notts County, Millwall, Charlton, Bristol Rovers AND Cardiff all finishing on 38 points, with Blackpool the unfortunate team on 37 points that ended up going down. You would think that Peter Kitchen’s goals were crucial but Orient scored fewer goals than any of their 38 point rivals (and the second least in the division). Despite his profligacy in the Cup Kitchen scored only 7 goals in the last 19 games of the 77/78 season, 3 of those a hat trick against Sheffield United in one of only 4 wins in that spell. It was the Orient defence who helped the team grind out the 9 draws that were crucial in keeping the team in Division Two, such was the value of a draw at a time when you got only 2 points for a win. Orient haven’t drawn as many as 18 games in a single season since 1978, despite now playing more games. But their form in the second half of the season mirrored that of the first and it was probably the fact that the team was first and foremost built around avoiding defeat stood them in good stead when it came to the Cup games and in just doing enough to avoid regulation.

Over the last ten seasons Orient have only made it through to the Third Round of the Cup 4 times and it can’t be a co-incidence that 2 of them have occured during 2 of the two most successful seasons in over 20 years. In fact in 3 of those 4 seasons the Os have finished in a higher or equal position in the league than they were before the Third Round. Compare that to the 6 seasons when Orient have failed to reach the Third Round. In 3 of those seasons Orient finished lower down the table than they were before they were knocked out of the Cup. In the other 3 they managed to climb 2 places up the table, to 20th in 06/07 and 17th in 09/10 and 1 place in 02/03. If recent history repeats itself Os fans might do well to be content with only climbing a place or two this season. The other side of that coin is that finishing lower than the 18th place Orient were in when Gillingham dumped them out of the Cup this season is likely to see them in the relegation zone.

Conference Call

It can’t be long until the Premiership comes up with the idea of abandoning relegation from the top division in order to preserve the status of its glamourous clubs like Bolton and erm, Stoke. The Football League would be quite within its rights to take the moral high ground, having finally recognised the value of promotion from the Conference, allowing for an automatic promotion place in 1987 and a second via play offs in 2002. It may have taken decades to abandon the system of the bottom clubs applying (usually successfully) for re-election to the league and the top non-league teams applying (unsually unsuccessfully) for election but since it did the promoted clubs have more often than not thrived, particularly over the last 10 years.

When the old guard clashes with the new, supporters of clubs like Leyton Orient are often shown to be hypocrites, complaining on the one hand about the condescending attitudes of the fans of ‘big clubs’ towards us whilst viewing with disdain the teams seen as lower down the football food chain than us. On one hand we will complain about the facilties (unless they are SO bad that it has its benefits – such as Barrow’s open air toilets). On the other we look forward to visiting them because it is somewhere new to tick off the list, a new badge of honour. And without fail we expect the Os to win. Why shouldn’t we, we’ve been a league team for over 100 years, there is nothing these upstarts can teach us about winning professional football matches.

Steve Evans : Lovely bloke

And yet, since 2001 Orient have a worse win record against the 19 teams that have been promoted from the Conference than against all of the other sides. We still look forward to playing 6 of those teams for the first time - the romantic trip to Wimbledon, the away days at Morecambe and Accrington, the chance to plant a metaphorical blow on Steve Evans’ chins at Crawley. But over the last ten years Orient have won 30% of the games they have played against the 13 other new boys compared with 34% against other teams. We also have fewer defeats against the new teams than the rest, as we have managed to rack up the draws at an alarming rate.

It shouldn’t be a great surprise because over the last ten years teams promoted out of the Conference have notched up 4 automatic promotions and 12 play off appearances (3 of them successful). That is set to increase with Crawley heading League Two this season and Shrewsbury, Burton and Torquay United all in the hunt. Of the teams that have been promoted to the League since 2001 Boston United and Chester City are the only two teams that couldn't stay there and fans of both teams would blame the the backroom turmoil that would have sunk any club rather as the reason for their demise. Boston were eventually demoted out of the Conference due to their precarious financial position after being relegated back down and Chester sadly went out of business last year.

Sean Thornton

The big success story is clearly Doncaster Rovers. You can tell what a tangled mess Doncaster became before their resurgence just by looking at their Wikipedia entry. Two short paragraphs cover 1879 to the early 1990s and the majority of the article covers the last ten years! They were a sorry mess when they visited Brisbane Road in 1997 and were thumped 8-0, the team literally containing pub footballers (not Sean Thornton, he was to come later). They have built on their 2003 promotion back to the League with two subsequent promotions. 23rd place in the Championship may be uncomfortable but not many would trade for where they were just 10 years ago. Yeovil Town, Carlisle United and to a certain extent Exeter City have also managed to consolidate places in a higher league after their initial promotion.

Of course there are two different types of club that have come out of the Conference. Stevenage have more in common with the likes of Wimbledon (who were one of only 7 teams in admitted to the league via the election system between 1950 and 1987) than they do the Doncasters and Carlisles who dropped out of the league largely through maladministration, to return stronger and better run. Like Wimbledon (and before them, Hereford who managed one season in what is now the Championship before sinking back down again in the 70s) Stevenage have clawed their way through the non-league system. Like Wimbledon they also play a ‘distinctive’ brand of football. However, whereas you got the impression Wimbledon were a team of thugs who just enjoyed kicking people for fun, Stevenage are proponents of that oxymoronic term for almost cheating, “professionalism”.

Westley: Being a winner is
all in the mind

Manager Graham Westley will stop at nothing to try to gain any small advantage for his side against the much bigger clubs they face. This includes flying in the face of common expert opinion by holding lengthy training sessions in morning and afternoon sessions. There probably isn't a sporting psychologist that Westley hasn't studied and tried to introduce to his players. And his players heads are filled with in-depth analysis of their opponents, no keeping it short and simple. I grudgingly admired the way Stevenage played in the first league encounter at Brisbane Road. In the first half they were able to negate an Orient team that started well but were disrupted with constant stoppages and petty fouls. In the second half Stevenage took charge and their constant running and the pressure they managed to exert were reminiscent of the way that Peterborough played last year. 0-0 wasn’t a bad result, especially since it came in the middle of what was to become a 13 match unbeaten run for ‘Borough’.


But it was Orient who were to end that run against a surprisingly lethargic home side on Monday. Stevenage didn’t come close to displaying the sort of finesse shown by Lee Cook when he curled a left foot shot past Chris Day for his first Orient goal. This was a much more bruising encounter than the game in October, Stevenage relying on brute force, their more redeeming qualities almost entirely absent. Yet, as is so often the case, when Orient stepped up to meet the physical challenge they were instantly penalised by the referee. It came to a head when Ben Chorley was sent off before half time, apparently on the advice of the linesman. It was a bizarre decision, Chorley guilty of no more than pushing Chris Beardsley to the ground after tangling in an aerial challenge with but the linesman, standing behind the incident, was convinced he had seen an elbow and the red card was shown to the Orient centre back.

Darren Sheldrake winning more friends

Referee Darren Sheldrake was never completely at ease with having made a decision that incited lengthy protests from the Orient players and officials, based on the advice of his linesman. When late on in the game, with the Os still clinging to their lead, substitute Chuks Aneke raised his boot to challenge for the ball, catching Terrell Forbes on the side of the head, Sheldrake immediately reached for his red card to exact some kind of justice. In truth were it not for the Chorley sending off Sheldrake would only have booked Aneke because it wasn’t a malicious challenge by any stretch of the imagination. With each team down to ten Bostwick came close to levelling things up 5 minutes from the end but as his shot flashed over Stevenage’s last chance was gone.

On this evidence Stevenage are unlikely to achieve their 3rd successive promotion, there are too many teams with far greater resources around them. It is hard to imagine that any team will emulate Wimbledon and make it all the way to the Premiership. Someone may come along and throw money at a medium sized club and achieve success, indeed Dave Whelan already has, at Wigan but without that sort of injection you can't see a team like Stevenage sneaking up the league. But these clubs also have a habit of hanging around, fired by a team spirit and local support that is missing at many jaded league clubs. So best be prepared for even more tight games finishing in frustrating draws, starting on Saturday away at 2004/5 Conference Play Off winners Carlisle United.

In Slade We Chest



Maradona chests the ball past Peter Shilton

It took Maradona 20 years to admit to the BBC that yes, maybe he did use his hand to score his first score against England in the 1986 World Cup. Thierry Henry had the decency to admit that he had deliberately used his hand in setting up the goal that saw France go through to the 2010 World Cup Finals at the expense of Ireland. It’s isn’t clear whether Charlton keeper Ben Hamer and manager Chris Powell feel a bit foolish for continuing to protest the red card shown to Hamer in the sixth minute of the New Years Eve clash with Orient. The pair couldn’t even a agree with each other after watching the TV replays, Hamer maintaining the ball hit him in the chest, Powell admitting it hit his arm but that it wasn’t deliberate. Powell’s defence that “if you are a yard or two away from the attacker you aren’t going to put your hands behind your back” doesn’t stand up – there is no difference, putting your hands up is just as cynical an act deliberately putting hand to ball to stop a goal bound shot. One suspects that once the appeal is dealt with both would be more willing to admit to what was plain as day to both the naked and the square slow motion eye. Conveniently the appeal will allow Hamer to face Brentford on Monday before then missing the cup tie against Fulham – which reserve John Sullivan would have played in anyway.



Hamer, ball, arm

The impact that it had on the game is more debatable. Orient did start brightly and the opening 5 minutes were a mirror image of the following 85 – the home side edging possession and creating the chances. The only difference was that the early chance fell not to Smith or Mooney but to Leon McSweeney, cutting inside from left back and dragging a shot wide on his right foot. The Os were a constant threat down the flanks, particularly through the full backs, Jimmy Smith more of a threat with his runs inside to meet crosses that providing an attacking option down the wing. One can only presume Charlton didn’t expect Orient to attack from deep having been forced to play McSweeney and Terrell Forbes out of position at left and right back. We’ve got used to the value of the versatility of McSweeney but Forbes was a revelation, constantly marauding down the right flank at will.

Even with Charlton a man short I would not have expected Orient to dominate a table topping side so easily and the truth is that the Addicks only threatened late in the game – at the point you would expect them to tire. What impressed me so much was that Orient wouldn’t have expected the game to pan out the way it did and would have gone into the game with a plan to counter attack rather than control the match. But they adapted much quicker than the visitors, who constantly struggled to achieve a balance between being organised in defence whilst still providing a threat going forward, and failing to do either. After Matt Spring grabbed what was to be the winning goal on 25 minutes, Orient went on to batter Charlton before the break. The fact that they only had one goal to their name was down to a combination of a little bad luck, some poor finishing and even worse officiating. Most notable was the offside flag that denied Jimmy Smith a deserved goal. A deep cross from Matthew Spring caught linesman Stuart Butler looking around to see Jimmy Smith ahead of the last defender, steering the ball past sub keeper John Sullivan. Replays showed not one, but two Charlton defenders playing Smith onside when the ball was actually played. Earlier in the half Butler, standing in front of 2000 Charlton fans, flagged David Mooney offside when he was one on one with Sullivan, TV showing again that it was the wrong decision. Butler improved in the second half, correctly keeping his flag down when Charlton players made identical runs.

I hate you Butler

It would be harsh to criticise Smith for failing to get on the score sheet having been denied a legitimate goal. But he was either the man of the match for managing to get in so many good positions or one of the two men responsible for not putting the game beyond doubt before Charlton’s late rally. The same could be said of David Mooney. Charlton managed to mark Lisbie out of the game leaving plenty of space for Smith and Mooney and it was Mooney who was guilty of getting in great positions but failing to hit the target. Smith did miss one point blank header following the sending off but he saw other chances deflected away and cleared off the line. Mooney only managed to force Sullivan make one save, his last effort finger tipped away to the keeper’s right. However it was Mooney’s substitution that was mearly the turning point for Charlton. Having been a constant threat he was replaced by Tehoue who failed to have any impact and seemingly lacked any desire or willingness to put in the sort of effort that had made Mooney a thorn in Charlton’s side.

 

That allowed Charlton to throw caution to the wind and put Orient under pressure for the first time in the game. It nearly paid dividends but a combination of Lee Butcher and Ben Chorley kept them at bay. Butcher showed his opposing number, by then watching and tweeting from the stands, when to come out and clear the ball and when to stay on your line, twice making crucial interventions yards from his own goal. And when Butcher was beaten by a Rhoys Wiggins shot (one that wasn’t blasted over to the accompaniment of a terrific trumpeted “wah wah waaaaah” from the Tijuana Brass in the stands) Chorley had taken up the perfect position to clear off of the line. Charlton also had a decent shout for a penalty, Cuthbert pulling back Johnnie Jackson as he tried to beat Butcher to a low cross. However, it was only picked up on TV and none of the Charlton players (including Jackson himself) made any kind of appeal. In the grand scheme of things it would have been an injustice to have been denied the three points having had the majority of the chances and a legitimate goal chalked off.

Hamer uses his chest to tweet "Refs ad a panic for me...see for yourselves hit the chest"

It seemed appropriate that the year ended with scenes of jubilation at Brisbane Road. The abiding memory of the year will be the scenes at the final whistle following the first cup tie against Arsenal in February. It had a lasting impact as for the first time in many years the supporters were behind the team and manager in a way that wasn’t even the case during the 2005/6 promotion year. Incredibly this lasted even through the disastrous start to this season. Football is played between August and May and I hate the calendar year records trotted out every time Robin Van Persie wins another game for Arsenal. So here, as a postscript, is the league table for 2011 with all 17 teams that have appeared in League One throughout 2011 – a year that of course started with the Os being beaten by the league leaders and eventual champions 5-0 and ended up beating the league leaders 1-0. Happy New Year!

                                                    Points in 2011

Huddersfield Town                        98

Mk Dons                                          94

Charlton Athletic                           78

Leyton Orient                                 74

Sheffield Wednesday                    71

Bournemouth                                 71

Brentford                                         68

Carlisle United                                67

Exeter City                                       65

Rochdale                                          65

Colchester United                          64

Yeovil Town                                     63

Tranmere Rovers                            63

Hartlepool United                           61

Notts County                                    59

Oldham Athletic                              57

Walsall                                              56