On a drizzly night in estuary Kent, Leyton Orient slipped to a disappointing defeat against Blue Square Premier opponents Ebbsfleet.
Despite fielding what appeared to be a strong O’s side, the home team’s raft of trialists outfought the lucklustre League One side.
Orient began the game the stronger of the two sides, and knocked the ball around comfortably, probing for an opening. The front two of Adrian Patuela and Scott McGleish bustled around the fragile-looking Ebbsfleet centre backs, and JJ Melligan saw plenty of the ball out wide. McGleish should have done far better when a low Melligan cross found him on the right side of the 6 yard box, but the striker completely miskicked.
Having failed to test the keeper with a couple of half chances, Orient took an early lead through Cyprus international Jason Demetriou. Good work from Loick Pires resulted in a deep cross which was headed on by Scott McGleish and then drilled back across goal by JJ Melligan. Demetriou found himself unmarked on the edge of the six yard box, and even had time to trap the ball before stroking it home.
The match continued relatively uneventful, with the home side putting little or no pressure on Orient’s defence, and Orient pressing and probing without creating many clear-cut chances. It therefore came as something of a suprise when the Fleet equalised.
Some absolutely horrible defending allowed one of the myriad triallists, Jamie Forshaw, to collect the ball 18 yards out and curl a peach of an effort into the far corner. This goal signalled a brief spell of Fleet pressure, and keeper Glenn Morris was forced to make a smart low stop to his right from another Forshaw effort.
The O’s re-took the lead shortly afterwards, as a Jimmy Smith through-ball was badly misjudged by Dean Pooley, and veteran striker McGleish produced a classy finish after bringing the ball down on the run. However, the lead was to last barely two minutes as more comedic defending cost the O’s dear. A terrible pass out by Glenn Morris was compounded by the defence who had turned their backs on the play, allowing Mark West to pick up the loose ball and finish easily.
This amateurish defending was matched shortly after half time as Ebbsfleet took a decisive lead. The centre backs were caught out by an average knock through the defence, and Jamie Forshaw was allowed a clear run on goal once the covering Charlie Daniels had fallen over. Glenn Morris parried Forshaw’s first effort (though he should have held it) before the diminutive winger finished at the second attempt.
The remainder of the game was disrupted by the expected number of substitutions, and Orient played some frankly horrible football in pursuit of an equaliser. The half was mostly notable for the debut of Jamie Scowcroft, who looked desperately short of match fitness, and the return to action of Sean Thornton.
Player Ratings
Glenn Morris 4
Error-strewn
Stephen Purches 6
Solid but unspectacular.
Charlie Daniels 2
In no way, shape, nor form a left back.
Tam Mkandawire 4
Looked like his mind was elsewhere…
Ben Chorley 5
Solid defensively, terrible distribution.
JJ Melligan 7
Effective when we actually gave him theball.
Jimmy Smith 6
Neat performance.
Jason Demetriou 6
Drifted in and out of the game.
Loick Pires 3
Bambi on ice.
Scott McGleish 7
Hardworking, quality showing.
Adrian Patuela 4
Worked hard, but needs to learn how to pass the ball.
The Ice Man Cometh
Clichés
Whilst the trite old lines that pre-season games engender such as: ‘It’s not about the result’ and ‘It’s all about building fitness’ could be applied to this game, so could the slightly less common: ‘Disgusting, clueless hoofball in the second half’ and ‘Please, please, please sign a proper left back’. Much work for George to do yet.
Wing Commander
JJ Melligan had a decent first half, and spent the second half screaming for the ball as it got repeatedly hammered over his head. If he can recapture his early season form from last year, he may well find himself a fixture in a side which, at the moment, looks far weaker down the flanks than through the middle.
The Ice Man Cometh
Icelandic international defender Haraldur Gudmundsson made his debut on trial for Orient. A left-sided central defender, he looked immensely comfortable on the ball and is a giant of a man. Hopefully he’ll get a chance to show what he can do in the friendly against Bishop’s Stortford
