Leyton Orient

Leyton Orient manager Richie Wellens praised centre-back Rarmani Edmonds-Green after he claimed a goal and an assist in his first game for more than a year.

Edmonds-Green ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee against Doncaster Rovers last October.

But, despite not having played any first-team football in 385 days, he was selected to start against Cambridge United on Saturday - and instantly repaid Wellens' faith with the opening goal, 32 minutes into the game.

He also set up the second for Jaze Kabia, before coming off 10 minutes into the second half, as Orient went on to win 3-0.

"It's been a long, hard road back for him," Wellens told BBC Radio London.

"We toyed with the idea of loaning him out to a National League club for a month just to get him games.

"Will [Forrester]'s injury has given him an opportunity. He's trustworthy, he makes good decisions, he's strong aerially - I didn't think he was going to score a goal but the whole group couldn't be more pleased for him."

Wellens said he could empathise with Edmonds-Green, having suffered a similar injury in 2012.

He also said the 27-year-old's return would be managed carefully.

"When you first come back you're running on adrenaline and your first two or three appearances are pretty good ones," the O's boss said.

"It's the four, fifth, sixth and seventh appearances where you can fall off the edge of a cliff.

"We'll look after him this week. Obviously he was struggling at half-time."

Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens has criticised some of his players' fitness levels and says the squad is not currently good enough to threaten the play-off places in League One.

He also said the team's performances are "cheating" fans who want to see them challenging at the top end of the table.

Wellens' comments came after their 2-1 defeat at Burton Albion on Saturday, which left the O's in 15th, six points off the top six.

"Their two goals are two counter attacks where we can't run back," Wellens told BBC Radio London. "Physically [it was] very disappointing.

"[We're] so inconsistent in our basics and at the moment I think we're cheating our supporters. I think we're letting them down massively.

"Everybody wants us to take the next step and get in and around the top eight, top six in this league but at the moment we're not good enough to do that.

"We're not consistent enough and the fitness levels are nowhere near [the level required], some of them."

Wellens highlighted that transfer deadline day signings Dane Scarlett and Alex Gilbert had not had a full pre-season and he was having to get them match fit during competitive games.

"We can't arrange [friendly] games because no-one wants games at this time," he said.

"You look at Dane in the last five or six minutes, he's knackered, he can't run.

"Alex has been great since he came in, but again he looked knackered towards the end and there's three or four others that have to do their pre-season now.

"It's the only way that we can we can get minutes in the legs and it shows massively."

Andrew Raeburn
BBC Sport, London and South East

Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens says striker Armando Dobra is "way off it in the basics" but does have the skills to make an impact for the club.

Dobra was signed in the summer from Chesterfield, where he had scored 30 goals in 144 league appearances, in both the National League and League Two.

But after starting the first two League One games this season, Dobra has since been used regularly as a second-half substitute, including in the 2-0 win over Blackpool on Saturday.

"Dobbs can be a good player," Wellens told BBC Radio London after the game.

"He's so way off it in the basics. But he's so talented, I want to get him on the pitch more. He needs to do the basics better. But by bringing him on, he can secure the ball.

"I remember he had a little passage of play - touch, touch, clever outside of the foot [pass] - and we got out. That's what we needed at that stage of the game, someone who can keep the ball for us."

Wellens said doing the simple things well is the key to his side's upturn in form, which has seen them keep back-to-back clean sheets and rise to ninth in the League One table, going into Wednesday's trip to Reading.

"I thought we were really good in terms of the basics," Wellens said of the performance against Blackpool.

"We can still be tidier, we can still be better. However, at the moment our basics are really good."

Goalkeeper Nathan Baxter believes Leyton Orient are capable of climbing the table and being part of the League One promotion battle this season.

The east London side are 12th following Saturday's goalless draw with second-placed Bradford.

"You just want to be in the mix come the end of the season and we just want to go into every single game thinking we can win, because we can," O's keeper Baxter told BBC Radio London.

"We're only going to get better. This is definitely a team which is getting better, and we've got good strength in depth."

Leyton Orient head coach Richie Wellens says he takes the blame for his side being "vulnerable" at times this season - because he has "dodged doing the basics".

Wellens revealed he had drilled his side in pressing, recovery and out-of-possession principles last week after the O's had lost four of their previous five games in all competitions.

It resulted in a goalless draw away at second-placed Bradford City on Saturday.

"We've looked vulnerable at times this year and the games have got open," Wellens told BBC Radio London.

"I take full accountability. We got a new group of players at the start of the season and I wanted to be top straight away - on the ball, patterns, rotate, all of this - and and I forgot to do the foundations.

"All of my teams in the last four years have been built on duels, running, [being] aggressive. So we've worked on pressing, recovery, shifting as a back five, and the players have taken to it really well.

"We've been like this all season. The team has worked hard. Sometimes it's tried too hard.

"But I take accountability because I want to get to us being a top football team but I've dodged doing the basics and the defensive stuff."

Orient sit 12th in League One, after just one win in their past five league games.

Andrew Raeburn
BBC Sport England

Leyton Orient majority shareholder David Gandler says the site identified for a proposed new stadium will allow the club to "grow quickly".

Last month, the League One club announced they had signed a second agreement, external with the London Borough of Waltham Forest to further explore the options for a multi-sport campus.

It would mean Orient leaving Brisbane Road, their home since 1937, with the aim of moving into a new stadium within the borough in time for their 150th anniversary in 2031.

Speaking to BBC Radio London, Gandler said the "large-scale project" had a capital expenditure "in the billions of pounds" and would "drive thousands of jobs" in the area.

The precise location of the of the site has not yet been disclosed but Gandler said: "We've identified something that we think will achieve our overarching goals.

"There's an opportunity here to to build something unique in an area of London where I believe there is a site that can allow us to grow and grow quickly.

"I think Leyton Orient, despite its long heritage, is a blank canvas. It is located in east London, an area that I believe will enter hyper-growth.

"We're very focused on youth jobs. There's a grave concern right now, not only in London, but across the UK, that there's very few opportunities for young people who are college or university educated to actually grow into new jobs."

Orient played in the top flight of English football in the 1960s but are currently in their fourth successive season in the fourth tier.

Gandler said that, irrespective of the cost of the new stadium, he wanted to keep ticket prices "flat, to some degree".

He added: "English fans have been priced out of the game. My goal is to ensure that we're able to keep football affordable and give children, parents and grandparents an opportunity to spend time together.

"That's the community angle that we're very focused on."

Leyton Orient assistant manager Paul Terry dedicated the 1-0 win over Stevenage to "everyone associated with the club".

Alex Gilbert's 79th minute goal earned the O's their first home league victory since 21 March, after seven without a win at Brisbane Road.

"As staff, we were aware of that, but you don't want to get bogged down by that because it becomes a weight on the players' shoulders a little bit," Terry told BBC Radio London.

"We haven't made a big thing of it. As long as we do the right things in a game, we're always going to have a chance of winning it.

"It wasn't our best performance, it wasn't pretty. We've done the ugly side of the game and we've got the goal we needed and three points.

"This is for everyone - the players, the staff, the fans, everyone associated with the club - because we were all together on that one."

Image source, Shutterstock

National League strugglers Gateshead have signed Leyton Orient goalkeeper Noah Phillips on a three-month loan deal.

The 21-year-old has made six appearances for the O's this season but boss Richie Wellens said last week that he would be willing to loan him out to gain more experience.

Lee Cattermole's side, who play away at Kidderminster on Wednesday, have taken four points from their opening six league matches.

Leyton Orient's squad players did not do enough in the EFL Trophy defeat to Arsenal's Under-21s to warrant selection in League One games, assistant boss Paul Terry said.

The O's made seven changes, and took the lead against the Gunners' youngsters, but were beaten 2-1.

"We had a lot of players trying to get into the team for league games," Terry told BBC Radio London.

"They got an opportunity and they didn't do enough to [say], 'Give me the shirt Saturday'. None of them did enough.

"We created enough chances, but we aren't ruthless enough in boxes - and if you're not ruthless enough, you're not going to win football matches.

"We're in a sticky place at the minute. When we go 1-0 up, don't settle, don't change - keep doing what we're doing.

"It took us 25 minutes to do something that we worked on and when we did it, we scored. Then we attempt to hold on, and we sit off a little bit.

"Keep going, it doesn't matter. If you go 1-0 down, it doesn't matter. Keep doing the right things and you will get the rewards."

Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens admits he is concerned about the club's home form.

Defeat by managerless Wycombe on Saturday extended the O's run without a league win at Brisbane Road to seven matches, stretching back to March.

"It's concerning because how do we change the feel about [the place]?," Wellens said to BBC Radio London.

"You can't just be reactive where you win [and] everybody's happy, you lose [and] everybody wants to rip everything up and start again. You have to go through processes.

"I think we've got the nucleus of a good team [but] people need to learn things, people are playing at this level for the first time."

Wellens said on-loan defender Alfie Gilchrist would return from injury and be given minutes on Tuesday against Arsenal's Under-21s in the EFL Trophy.

He also said goalkeeper Oliver Dovin, a deadline-day loan recruit from Coventry, would likely start against the Gunners' youngsters.

However, a third loanee, Ipswich left-back Somto Boniface, is likely to be missing for another couple of weeks with the knee injury he sustained last month against Sheffield Wednesday.

Fellow defender Joseph Olowu went off against Wycombe with an Achilles problem, while Demetri Mitchell was sent for a scan after also picking up an injury in the same game.

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