Orient's Disappointing draw with Oldham

Leyton Orient dropped two valuable points after a late rally from promotion hunting Oldham. Despite the sending off of striker and goalscorer Gary Alexander, the Os held a 2-0 lead until Oldham came back strongly in the last 15 minutes, writes Ronan Murphy

Alexander put Orient a goal up in the 13th minute, finishing smartly from a tight angle. In an even first half, Orient troubled Oldham with a number of high balls into the box, aided by a strong wind. Alexander was perhaps unfortunate to pick up his first yellow card when the referee judged him to have deliberately stood in the way of a quickly taken but directionless free kick.

He saw red for a second yellow card in the 49th minute after a mistimed tackle on Oldham’s Will Haining. This was the cue for Oldham to pour forward in numbers, peppering Glynn Garner’s goal with shots.

Garner had an excellent game with a great save from Neil Eardley as one of the highlights. His best moment came when one of his own defenders diverted the ball towards goal and he made a reaction save to cling on to the ball on the goal line.
When Oldham did beat him they found themselves denied by the woodwork. Paul Warne smashed a 25-yard pile-driver against the bar, while Leon Clarke and Craig Rocastle also hit the upright.

Orient looked to have weathered the storm and sealed the game in the 70th minute when they broke from their own half and Jason Demetriou played in substitute striker Gary Hooper, who lobbed Pogliacomi in the Oldham goal. It was his first goal for the club on his debut after being loaned from Southend.

Oldham refused to give up and renewed their onslaught. On 73 minutes the Orient defence fell asleep and influential Andy Liddell delivered a deep cross to the far post for the unmarked Chris Taylor to head home.

Just eight minutes later Oldham completed their comeback when Richie Wellens was brought down in the box by Brian Saah. Liddell converted the penalty to set up a grandstand finish, which saw Garner produce two more fantastic saves to deny Wellens and Warne. In stoppage time Oldham had the ball in the net, but Clarke’s rebound tap-in was judged to have been offside.

Orient boss Martin Ling said he could not complain about the result. “Looking at how the game went, it’s a point gained and not two lost. There is a touch of frustration because we were 2-0 up, but they hit the woodwork three times had one saved miraculously on the line by Glynn Garner, so a draw was fair.”

The draw saw Orient’s unbeaten run stretch to six games. They seem to be peaking at the right time in their bid to stave off relegation. “It’s a good little run we’ve got going,” said Ling. “There is resilience in this team. Our destiny is in our own hands.”

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