Orient boss Mauro Milanese hopes his side take confidence into their League 1 clash with Gillingham in Kent tomorrow. The O’s picked up their first home win in 10 against Northampton on Tuesday in the JPT. Milanese expressed that “We hope to make a difference to the situation, open a few doors and get away from the bottom”. With Orient’s next two games against sides below them in the table, the O’s boss knows “they will very angry being in the bottom and we will need to focus as it will be a tough test”.

Gillingham go into the clash picking up their first win in 10 away to Crawley in the JPT and will have improved confidence against a side in a similar predicament to themselves. The Gills haven’t won in the league since September where they beat Peterborough at home where all 3 of their league win have been achieved;12 out of their 14 league points have been gained at home winning 3 and drawing 2. Gillingham picked up 11 points in August in September whilst only picking up 3 in their last 6 games.

In contrast, Orient accumulate the majority of their points away with 3 wins and 4 draws; 13 out of their 16 points have been gained away. The team from East London have only lost 2 in their last 15 away matches to Crawley and Port Vale, coming away from Sheffield United, Bristol City and Fleetwood with points. With an improved performance in the JPT, Milanese has been doing a lot of work on the training ground to try and improve the O’s form. “Learning to defend and attack as a team, looking to play good quality football trying to look at different systems” stated Milanese but mentioned that key squad players “are still a way away but he is looking forward to having more quality in the team with competition for places”.

Both teams will need to start well having better records when scoring first: Gillingham 10 points out of 14 and Orient 8 points out of 16. All of Gillingham home wins have been when they have scored first whilst all games Orient have scored first have been away. When the Gills have conceded first they have only picked 2 points from 8 games while Orient 5 points from 9 games. Gillingham top scorer Danny Kedwell has 5 goals from 10 matches in the league while Darius Henderson could return for the O’s but Simpson and Dagnall played well together on Tuesday. Dagnall assisted Simpson’s and Bartley’s goals on Tuesday; both are likely to start.

Milanese is asking for the fans to play a key role in the game “we hope as many to come as they can to support and get behind the team”. After doing the double against the Gills last season, fans should be optimistic of a win at Priestfield tomorrow. Recent signing Andrea Dossena could feature which could see Orient play 3-4-1-2 which Milanese mentioned in his program notes. Shane Lowry and Nathan Clarke should keep their place at the heart of the defence after both impressed against Northampton.

With Orient looking like they are turning the corner with recent performance, an away win at Gillingham would bring more confidence in the group. Prediction for the game is Orient will continue their improved form with a 2-1 success; Simpson and Dagnall with the goals for the O’s.