As I, as
well as most Orient fans, prepare for the biggest game in the club’s history, I
take a look at the Orient’s season and look forward to a day out at Wembley
this weekend.
What a Start
 |
| Eldin: "Bosnia's Number 1" |
It says
something about the strength of Orient when they went all the way up to
Carlisle on the opening day of the season and won 5-1, the only bad points
being Carlisle’s goal (coming from a questionable penalty) and Nathan Clarke’s
injury. In fact 12 games unbeaten from a team that only had a 19 man squad
before a ball was kicked is quite something. The performances were impressive
and the football was slick, but the defeat at Coventry in October opened the
door to patchy form until the arrival of Eldin Jakupović.
Goalkeepers
 |
| Shwan Jalal: Nervous |
This season
has carried on the theme of previous seasons of late; the theme of many goalkeepers.
Jamie Jones was the first choice up to his injury over Christmas. Jake Larkins played well when called upon immediately
after Jones was injured, but was dropped in favour of fan favourite Eldin Jakupović. After Jakupović’s first recall to Hull, Ben
Alnwick’s disappearance was as quick as his arrival. It was the low point of the season for the Os
as well, because his very short term replacement, Shwan Jalal, had a stay at
the Matchroom Stadium that Orient fans will prefer not to look back on. Jakupović
then returned for a while the steady the ship before his second and final
recall by Hull. Jones was by then ready to come back, thankfully, but surely
one big reason that the automatic promotion push failed was the forever
changing wearer of the gloves. It never helps a defence when they don’t have
complete confidence in the man behind them. Rumour has it that, to fill the
unexpected void left by Alnwick, Russell Slade was actually trying to loan in
Jalal’s Bournemouth teammate Ryan Allsop (a former Orient favourite) but was
told to have Jalal. Anyway it’s happened and we move on.
Strikers that can’t
score
 |
| Simpson: 100% effort, 0% goals |
We’ve seen
it before haven’t we? Jamie Cureton, Michael Symes and David Mooney mark 1
(2011/12 version) ‘couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo from a yard away’. Yet
again there have been a couple this season: most noticeably Yohann Lasimant,
who has hardly ever come off the bench, and Robbie Simpson, whose stoppage time
miss against Preston in November set the tone for his season. Luckily Mooney
mark 2.5 and ‘Super’ Kevin Lisbie have got 39 goals between them in all competitions,
and January signing Chris Dagnall has now got the goals flowing after a quiet
spell that followed his two goal debut. The problem I have with that is that even
in some games where the Mooney/Lisbie partnership hasn’t produced goals they
have still tended to keep ‘Dags’ on the bench without much of a look in. I’m happy
to concede though that having 4 strikers like Lisbie, Mooney, Dagnall and Batt
provides a good balance of attacking options, with Batt often proving difficult
for opposing defences to handle when coming off the bench. Finally, having said
something about strikers who can’t score, some mention ought to be made about
two midfielders who can. Dean Cox and Moses Odubajo, who score and create
chances, have been a revelation on the wings. Full-backs sometimes look baffled
when the pair switch wings or have ‘free’ roles, while some opposing defenders
have been seen to freeze at the sight of
Odubajo running directly at their
goal. Cox’s determination and industry makes up for his lack of height while
his leadership led him to captain the team twice in 2012/13. Besides, Mooney’s
red card obtained while standing in as captain should mean he is unlikely to be
offered the armband again any time. |
| Coxy is used to celebrating |
Going Up?
Let’s not
tempt fate…
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