With three points finally in the bag yesterday, open warfare on Russell Slade was temporarily suspended. Even those that had travelled to Swindon all psyched up to hurl abuse at the no longer loved boss had to put their plans on ice as the Os started well. Once Lee Cook bagged the win even the most vociforous knew it'd be churlish to go ahead with their protests and they could wait for another day. Of course the gaffer is from from off the hook but at least our nose dive start was arrested and that first win of the season is always crucial. Thank god it came much earlier than it did last year because I don't think he'd have been able to hold on to his job for as long this season.
There are encouraging signs for Orient after a bad start that we've not entirely recovered from yet. At this point goals seem as important as wins and the absence of a single goal from open play until yesterday is extremely concerning. That may change over time though, if we can keep picking up wins. The promotion season was founded on countless one-goal wins and it is clear that Slade feels most comfortable shutting up shop and snatching wins from few chances. It is a tactic that has had us tearing our hair out because we aren't good enough defensively and don't have strikers capable of scoring unless given at least 3 or 4 chances. All we've been doing for the best part of 6 months is inviting teams onto us who have eventually picked us apart.
Slade's late signings may have seen a turn of fortunes and maybe even tactics if yesterday is anything to go by. I thought the reaction to last week's defeat at Crawley seemed well over the top. Lee Cook and Martin Rowlands are two quality signings. If some of our other aquisitions over the last 12 months have been underwhelming, I don't think it is unreasonable to say the two ex-QPR players exceed our expectations of the sort of player we can attract. Their introduction made an immediate impact against Crawley and at last we looked a threat - albeit until it came to applying the finish when we still looked blunt. But both are short of match fitness and their withdrawal led to a downturn in fortunes and Crawley grabbing the win.
The two were able to put in a longer shift yesterday and a solid first half was followed up by a positive second period, when Swindon were reduced to a brief flurry of chances at the start and some inevitable late pressure. But the little bit of class needed belonged to Lee Cook who applied a classy finish to Leon McSweeney's (remember him?) cross and it was enough to take the points. There is every reason to believe that we can get stronger game by game as he does.
What is concerning is that our fortunes are so closely linked to two players we've only been able to sign on short term contracts. We look so much better defensively when we have a genuine attacking threat and either Slade has just realised this or is more comfortable with a more positive line up with Cook and Rowlands in the side than he is with other players. Hopefully we can build on that and Cook and Rowlands will both stay for the season. However, if they are too good and others pick them up in January we need to be thinking of our plan C if we're not to plummet in the second half of the season again. Because there is one thing we can say with some certainty from the last 6 months - Russell's plan B doesn't work and we either need to replace the quality we'd lose or find a different system.
