Boss pleased with determination not to concede another in second half against the O's
Steve Davis says it will continue to be a battle to acquire the points we will need to be safe in League One. The Railwaymen had to show some real grit and determination to weather a storm of early attacks from Leyton Orient in the second half and the Alex boss was generally pleased with the effort his players showed.
Our chances of getting a priceless win at this stage of the season were not helped with a double injury to midfielders Jamie Ness and Chris Atkinson and with just Liam Nolan available from the bench, the Alex boss had to readjust accordingly with Lauri Dalla Valle dropping deeper to help out youngsters Nolan and James Jones.
That united work ethic against a decent Leyton Orient side saw us pick up a point from a tricky encounter and although the boss wasn’t pleased with the second half performance he was delighted with their determination not to get beaten.
Steve told crewealex.net: “I’ve said all season that I think Leyton Orient have been in a false position in their league. I don’t know what has gone on behind the scenes there with the change of ownership and the managerial changes they have made, but they have some real quality in their squad and they have a very good budget to work with.
“It was only a year ago that most of those players were on verge of getting the club promoted to the Championship, so we were not kidding ourselves going into the game. We knew it would be tough because of the quality they possess.
“I thought the first half was fairly even and we pressed them more than they pressed us. They pressed in the second half and the strong wind was a factor in that. It was difficult to get the ball down and play in those conditions and it became more difficult to get up the pitch.
“We didn’t start the second half well, we gave the ball away from the kick-off and we couldn’t get ourselves going again for a period, but I was pleased with their effort not to concede again.
The Alex boss added: “They all worked hard. We made some blocks and the goalkeeper made some good saves and although we didn’t do what I wanted in that second half, I couldn’t fault their effort.”