LOFC – One In, One Out At Orient

Crystal Palace’s Calvin Andrew has joined Orient, whilst Jamie Cureton has departed the club for a return to his former club, Exeter City.

Andrew, 25, has signed from Championship club Palace on loan until the end of the season. The 6’3 frontman started his career at hometown club Luton Town before a move to Palace came about in 2008.

In his career Andrew has played 170 games for seven different clubs and scored 15 goals in that time.

Departing the club is Jamie Cureton. Cureton left Exeter in the summer to sign for The O’s and came with a reputation as a goalscorer. Like Andrew, Cureton’s loan deal will last till the end of the current season, coincidentally when Cureton’s contract at Orient ends.

In 23 appearances for the club Cureton scored just once, in the 4-1 away defeat at Carlisle United.

It hasn’t been announced whether Cureton will be eligible to face the Orient in April when Orient travel to the South West to face the Grecians.

The signing of Andrew isn’t the best, lets be honest. Looking at his stats, 15 goals in 170 appearances isn’t fantastic at all. Considering we have striker’s who are misfiring, the signing of another hasn’t left many O’s fans happy, myself included.

The departure of Cureton is a slight shock, I expected the club to hang on to him till his contract ended in June. However, his departure has been coming. Lazy, lethargic performances from the man who’s scored everywhere he’s been apart from Orient left many frustrated with him and well down the pecking order by the management.

The Cureton signing is probably the most frustrating we’ve made in many a year. Yes, we could all point to James Scowcroft and Sam Parkin and say they were worse players, which they were, but Cureton still had something to offer when he signed for the club, unlike Scowcroft and Parkin who were unfit and past it.

Hopefully the club have had the foresight and intelligence to make Cureton ineligible when we visit St James’ Park next month because after all, this is Orient and even the worst player’s who’ve wore the shirt come back and score against us.