Terrierised

Orient have been drubbed, tonked, murdered and twatted out of sight here in Yorkshire. The Londoners started poorly, dared to reach merely incompetent at times, before capitulating into unacceptable, feckless, laissez faire appallingness in the second half.

It had all begun so brightly for Orient, who enjoyed 100% of the possession for the first four seconds of the game after taking the kick off. Sadly, that was just about as good as it got for the hapless O’s who found themselves hoplessly outclassed and – criminally – outworked by the home side.

Orient were yet again indebted to Glenn Morris for a series of fantastic saves which kept Huddersfield down to single figures (and almost completely out for the whole first half, but we’ll get there in a minute). Early on he made a superb save to deny Jordan Rhodes’ powerful diving header which seemed destined for the net. Moments later he made another good stop from Gary Roberts’ well-executed chip.

Roberts and his oppostie number Anthony Pilkington were systematically taking Orient’s full backs apart – proof that you really do get what you pay for. To their credit, Orient were playing some neat stuff of their own, and Luke Summerfield had a couple of half-decent efforts. Ben Chorley could – perhaps should – have scored from a header but sent the ball over the bar with keeper Alex Smithies nowhere to be seen.

After that, though, it was all Huddersfield. Roberts had another two efforts well saved by Morris before Lee Novak fired wide. It appeared as though the O’s were somehow going to cling on to parity until half time, but their luck couldn’t hold out. After failing to properly deal with a long throw (basics, basics…), Tam Mkandawire’s sliced clearance was nodded down to Roberts who hit a stunning volley into the bottom corner of the net. It was no less than the home side deserved, and they went on to put Orient to the sword in the second half.

Firstly, Nathan Clarke scored just after the break from a Gary Roberts set piece, rising pretty much unapposed to nod past the blameless Morris. The stopper did well to save a Pilkington effort and keep his side vaguely in the game, but in truth the O’s had lost their heads. Too much gung-ho play was leading to defensive indiscipline, and the general attitude of the side was unconfident and unprofessional.

The third was added with 15 minutes to go, as Michael Collins headed in a cross from, you guessed it, that man Roberts. And it could have got worse for the O’s as Theo Robinson missed a simple chance and Glenn Morris made yet another good save; this time from Lionel Ainsworth. Still things did get worse as Orient again failed to defend a cross properly, and the prolific Rhodes struck in injury time to give the scoreline a more realistic look.
Playing for the shirt?
I don’t mind when Orient lose to an obviously superior side. Huddersfield have spent heavily over the past 12 months, and Orient can’t compete with that sort of spending power and subsequent quality. What we can compete with is organisation, passion and commitment. When we don’t, it’s unacceptable. Big away games at Southend, Norwich and Huddersfield have seen Orient play badly, go behind and then capitulate pathetically. So we have to ask ourselves: Are they being motivated properly? Do the players care enough about Leyton Orient? Do some of them simply not want to be here? More tough, long away trips are coming up. I guess we’re going to find out soon enough.