On an absolutely freezing cold night in Buckinghamshire, Orient froze in front of the Sky Sports cameras as has so often been the case. With the away fans housed in the rather ironically named ?Dreams? Stand, it all turned to nightmares far too quickly for Martin Ling?s men. Backed by a rather vociferous travelling support, Orient failed to deliver the performance that the O?s fans had hoped for. In fact, by the 2nd minute comical defending had allowed Charlie Griffin to slide Wycombe ahead after Kevin Betsy?s original effort had been blocked. Orient failed to contain Wycombe in the early stages as time and time again Orient found themselves exposed by the pace of Betsy and Wycombe?s incisive passing. Yet, with their first real attack of the game Orient were level. Shane Tudor, Orient?s most effective player on the night used his pace to get in behind the Wycombe rearguard before pulling the trigger. His shot was parried by Talia but Lee Steele followed up to restore parity.
The celebrations were wild amongst the away fans, and most had only just taken their breath when Gaby Zakuani decided to head the ball into his own net just 60 seconds later. The ball seemed to take an eternity to fall over the line, but it did and there was little that Garner could do about it. From then on Orient struggled to get back into the game and their normally slick passing seemed to have deserted them. Lee Steele hobbled off to be replaced by Jabo Ibehre after 39 minutes, but all too often he found himself starved of possession. Wycombe almost made it 3 before the break, when Craig Easton was harshly adjudged to have fouled his man, and the resulting free kick almost wrong footed Garner who recovered to tip the ball over the bar.
The Second half started much like the first with Wycombe further extending their advantage with a lovely goal. Kevin Betsy who gave Orient a torrid time all night linked up with Mooney and Griffin to give Bloomfield the chance to shoot past the helpless Garner. Things went from bad to worse for the O?s as Stefan Oakes swerving shot somehow eluded Garner on 54 to give the Chairboys an unassailable lead. To their credit, Orient did not give up the fight and Shane Tudor got one back following up a fantastic parried save from an Ibehre header. Orient had numerous efforts blocked on the line with both Keith and Ibehre going close, and Ibehre also put an effort wide following good play from Tudor.
Any Positives?
JD’s view
Wycombe showed tonight why they are the bookie’s favourites for the title this evening. From the first minute they looked far more up for it than Orient and their play was both imaginative and enterprising. However, Orient will feel that they let themselves down this evening. Wycombe cut through Orient far too easily, particulary through Kevin Betsy who was allowed far too much space and time on the ball. All too often Orient found themselves exposed, and once they had managed to get the ball back, Orient’s erratic passing only served to put themselves under more pressure.
The Record Goes
With that defeat Orient’s unbeaten away record goes and leaves them 3rd in League Two having played a game more than 2nd placed Grimsby and 4th placed Northampton. Next up for the O’s is a 1 O’clock home game against Notts County on New Years Eve.
Any Positives?
Despite the defeat which was disappointing, one away defeat so far is a fantastic record. Orient came up against a good side in Wycombe and failed to deliver a decent enough peformance to salvage a result. It’s not time to be too despondent however and Martin Ling will be hoping that his players can go out and rectify tonight’s result with three points on Saturday.
