My thoughts about today.
Sean Thornton was the best player on the park by some distance - I said when Orient signed him in the pre season that was an excellent bit of business, and I was dissapointed we didnt sign someone of that calibre. He tore us to shreds when Donny were here last and did so again today, everything positive for Orient went through him. I dont think he dived much at all really, everytime he went down, it was because someone in our side had fouled him, simple as that. He out thought McCormack as well, he knew by winding him up, he was liable to do something like that, and he fell for it - You have to admire the intelligence if nothing else!
McCormack was completely ill disciplined and cost us any chance of winning that match, and I hope Tilly stamps down quickly on this kind of behaviour. We saw it last week at Crawley with Foran, now his sparring partner getting his marching orders 7 days later is not good enough. He completely blotted his copy book as up to then he was doing fine - his run to set up our goal was superb, and showed the difference between the Championship and League One - that run would have been checked in the Championship, in League One, Orient didnt even spot him!!
I dont agree that we were head and shoulders above Orient today - they looked extremely average to me, and we did as we often do, and sank to there level at times. There were times when we showed some class, our goal for example, but we did that on too few occasions and allowed them to have too much possession in and around our penalty box, and that cost us with the first goal.
I am a huge fan of JCR as many of you know, but I thought he was poor today - he was at fault for there winner, losing possession in the middle of the park when he didnt need to, and tried holding onto the ball too long - I kind of got the impression he thought it was going to be easier than it actually was.
Also, I am going to buck my trend of criticising Tilly over his substitutions today - yes, they were late, but up until Orient scored there winner, I didnt see much point in changing it - they werent really hurting us, and putting Charlie Mac up front on his own would have been a terrible idea. If nothing else, Harrold is relatively tall and you would need someone who could get on the end of crosses if we were to break, so I dont blame him for that too much.
Defensively, overall, i didnt think they actually caused us that many problems, we looked fairly solid, it took a wonder goal to get on terms and a mistake by us in midfield for them to score there winner, so for the moment at least, I would say they are going to be ok.... As long as Gilbert remembers he has to defend as well as attack ;)
The biggest worry for me today would be the strike force. There were a few times that we opened Orient up, or put a ball in behind there back four, and we had absolutely no pace up front to exploit that area, which made us very dimensional in the end. Harrold couldnt be knocked for his effort, but just doesnt look like scoring, and as much as it is starting to sound like a broken record now, i dont think its just coincidence that almost everyone is saying the same thing.
Having said that, he shouldn't take the full burden of why we looked ineffective going forward - I thought Hooper didnt have one of his better days at the office today, and I am still struggling to see what all the fuss is about regarding him, I really am.
I notice Paynter wasnt even on the bench and I would be amazed if he was still with us by the end of the transfer window - he wont accept sitting in the reserves in League One, and it is becoming clearer that Tilly just doesnt rate him - so why not cut your losses and get rid. Personally, I would love to see him being given the chance of first team football with us, I believe he is good enough at this level and will score goals, but if you're not going to play him, then get rid, and sign someone you are going to play.
It is only one game, and we cant get too downbeat about it - we always lose to Orient, and as annoying as it is, we have to just get on with it, but it is clear to everyone who was there, and everyone who has been watching in pre season that we are toothless up front and we have to address that before too long.
