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The Blues were unchanged from the starting eleven that were on the right side of a 3-2 score-line the previous Saturday when they were victorious at Cheltenham and things couldn’t have started any better for the Cumbrians as they took the lead in the fourth minute in what proved to be a false dawn.
Chris Lumsdon sent Karl Hawley away with an excellent ball down the left-hand side which United’s top scorer took well in his stride as he looked up for support in the box. Hawley crossed in a good low ball which Brendan McGill, running in from the right-wing, duly dispatched with a left-foot volley. It wasn’t the best of connections from the diminutive Irishman but Orient keeper Glyn Garner could only get his fingertips to it as it nestled in the corner of the net.
The United goal though only seemed to annoy the O’s who came roaring back into the match with some lovely quick, passing football and they put three goals past the Blues in the space of 26 minutes to leave the Cumbrians shell-shocked. The O’s made the most of the strong wind blowing down from the Warwick to the Waterworks in the first-half as United often had ten men in their own end of the pitch as the ball held up in the air.
Their first spell of prolonged pressure came as soon as sixty seconds after the Cumbrians’ opener. United keeper Anthony Williams, who had a shaky afternoon, failed to clear a ball into the home box which Orient full-back Matt Lockwood picked up on the edge of the area. Orient’s longest serving player hammered a shot on target which Paul Arnison flung himself across to block and from my view in the Paddock it looked one of those penalty decisions you’d have been screaming for at the other end of the pitch. Referee Neil Swarbrick though ignored all the protests from the Orient players as he saw the ball hitting Arnison on the shoulder, it was a lucky escape for the Blues but one which in the end made little difference.
It only took another five minutes however for Orient to get the equaliser their approach play deserved as United’s defence, having another off day at Brunton Park, conceded a soft goal. Lockwood, who was excellent going forward for the O’s all match, was allowed far too much time to cross a deep ball in to the far-post where Gary Alexander was waiting. The Orient frontman climbed all too easily above Zigor Aranalde to head back across Williams and into the far corner, a good cross and a good header but it was still a sloppy goal to concede.
Orient took complete control of the match from then on as their fluid one-touch passing in midfield led to United chasing shadows although for all their excellent approach play they created few clear opportunities.
United fans were left scratching their heads in the 22nd minute as player-manager Paul Simpson changed his tactics from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2. It again seemed a case of square pegs into round holes as central-midfielder Lumsdon was shoved onto the left-side of midfield as the off-colour Raphael Nade went up-front to partner Hawley. Simpson reminds you of Sven-Goran Eriksson at times as he often seems to try and accommodate all his best midfield players on the pitch without putting two of them in their best positions and dropping one to suit the natural formation.
Two minutes later Lumsdon could have added a second goal for the Blues as he ran on to a good ball in from the right from Adam Murray but the "left-midfielder" slipped at the vital moment and the ball was easily cleared.
On that subject, what is it with United players and boots? In all my five 25 years of watching football I’ve never seen another team that seems to continuously wear the wrong studs as much and spend half of the game slipping over onto their backsides.
The inevitable second goal for the O’s came on 33 minutes as United skipper Kevin Gray conceded his third penalty of the season after Williams had initially pushed Jabo Ibhere’s effort away for a corner on the left-hand side. Lockwood swung in the flag-kick which the United defence failed to clear and after some abject efforts at getting rid of the ball from Aranalde and Arnison Joe Keith picked the ball up in the United box only to be scythed down by a horribly mistimed tackle from Gray. Lockwood easily hammered the spot-kick home to give Orient the lead, Williams dived the right way but couldn't get close to the full-back's perfect postage stamp penalty.
Gray had a bad game for the Blues as his old legs struggled to cope with the pace and movement of Orient striking duo Ibhere and Alexander all game. Ibhere had a superb game for Orient and the 22-year old who has come through the youth ranks at Brisbane Road looks a very good prospect now that he is over injury problems that have plagued him in the last two seasons. His electric pace and movement will cause problems for a lot of sides in the division and he looks just like the type of player United boss Simpson hopes Nade will become.
United’s defensive play didn’t get any better three minutes later as the ever-dangerous Ibhere put the O’s 3-1 up. It was a case of "after-you" as Ibhere strode on to a through-ball from Shane Tudor and from 12 yards out the Orient front-man smashed a rising drive into the roof of the net as the Cumbrians’ defence continued their game of statues.
The Blues tried to come back into the game before the interval but their play in midfield was poor all afternoon and the Orient back-line coped easily with the continual long balls pumped forward from United.
Half-time came in front of an extremely subdued crowd of 6584 with only the 150 travelling fans from the east-end of Laandan able to enjoy their break-time pie. United were booed off the pitch as they trudged into the dressing room which was very disappointing, if not unsurprising, to hear, after three straight wins had raised expectations.
After only five minutes of the interval it became evident that a change was to be made by the Blues as Glenn Murray ran down the tunnel and away from the half-time knockabout. He was to replace his namesake Adam Murray after the break who had been quiet in the first-half, although most of the home fans thought that Chris Billy would have been better sacrificed with United chasing a two goal deficit.
The Blues came back into it slightly in the early moments of the second half as Orient sat back and protected what they had, knowing they were always going to make chances on the break with their pace from midfield.
A good half-chance fell for United in the 50th minute through Glenn Murray. Aranalde put in a good ball from the left-wing and Murray hit a strong goal-bound half volley only to see it well blocked by Orient centre-half Michael Simpson putting his body on the line to preserve the O’s’ advantage.
A quiet spell followed in the game where Orient easily coped with United’s uncreative midfield play, John Mackie especially showed signs of his previous Championship experience with Reading as he continually cleared his lines well with the minimum of fuss.
Another half-chance on one of those days came in the 65th minute for United. Aranalde hurled a long throw dangerously into the box from the left-hand side and the ball evaded everyone as it flashed across the face of the goal and into the hands of Garner when any kind of touch would surely have seen the net bulge.
United’s attacking play improved from the 70 minute mark as the mercurial Peter Murphy was introduced for the even more mercurial Nade and it was the Irishman who was to go close for United in the 74th minute.
Joe Keith, who had played very well in the Orient engine-room up to this point, gave the ball away to Lumsdon in the middle of the park. Lumsdon released McGill on the right and his cross to the far-side of the area was met by Murphy on the volley who was desperately unlucky to see his powerful drive crash back off the post from the edge of the box.
Nade had been substituted after he turned his marker on the by-line and won a corner. He immediately called to the bench for treatment and seconds after Neil Dalton had reached him the United physio signalled with a crossed wave of his hands to Paul Simpson that Nade’s afternoon was finished. It remains to be seen what Nade’s injury is but if he is out for the next two games in seven days, and with Derek Holmes only just returning to training, United’s attacking options are looking threadbare. The word "hindsight" and the name "Steven Craig" could soon be coming to prominence.
Little happened in the match from then on as the "contest" petered out terribly in the final ten minutes with both sides seemingly accepting the final result and the United supporters drifting away from Brunton Park.
Just as the referee was checking his watches at the end of three minutes of injury time Murphy pulled back a late consolation goal for United with an excellent strike. Substitute Jamie McClen laid the ball out to Murphy on the right from where the ex-Blackburn man cut in well and struck home a sweet 18-yard drive with his trusty left-foot. Garner had no chance of saving it in the Orient goal although Murphy’s effort may have woken him up as he was very rarely tested throughout the 90 minutes with the Blues only having three efforts on target.
The final whistle came 30 seconds later as referee Swarbrick put the United fans out of their misery and called time on a defeat that sees United slip from second in the table to sixth in a log-jammed top half of the table.
Post-match quotes :
After the match Leyton Orient's ecstatic manager Martin Ling said: "The first half was one of the best we've played since I've been here as manager. I'm delighted with the whole game. It was just a shame about the last minute goal.
"Our second half performance was very professional. Carlisle couldn't cope with our front men. Gary Alexander and Jabo Ibehre were great and their defence couldn't live with them.
"Our pressure forced their mistakes and it was a very good day at the office."
Carlisle player-manager Paul Simpson said: "The result flatters us, this was the best team we have played all season. We didn't deserve anything from the game.
"I don't think any one of my players had a good game today, but this result doesn't make us a bad team and we just have to bounce back from us."
thetashkenttheory :
So a disappointing day at the office for the Blues but whilst the defeat did pose some questions it has to be put into perspective. I’m sure if any of us had been offered sixth in the table after ten games at the start of the season we’d have taken it hands down.
We were beaten by an outstanding performance today from Orient in a first-half display manager Martin Ling describes as potentially the best 45 minutes of football they have played in his 103 games in charge.
The lads seem to let their heads go down easily at home when they go behind and seem to have little belief that they can get back into the game, it doesn’t help either when sections of the crowd go to the matches seemingly to boo the players rather than support them. The time for complaining about players is after the game and not during it when the lads need our support.
Kevin Gray is starting to show signs of his age as he struggles to cope with players running at him at pace and while he is a strong leader we don’t need him giving away any more penalties to add to his three already.
Raphael Nade is the enigma Woking fans told us he would be, good one game and completely ineffectual the next, Simmo’s reluctance to take a gamble on signing another striker is looking worrying now that Nade limped out of today’s game and Holmes is still on the comeback trail.
I’d like to see a return to 4-4-2 at Chester with Murphy on the left and McClen given a chance with Adam Murray in the centre of midfield and lets hope today was just a blip against a very good side after we have made a cracking start to the season.
Oh, and buy some football boots with studs will you lads and put the slippers away.