Leyton Orient manager Ian Hendon was pleased with his sides battling qualities once more as Orient fought back to a 1-1 draw with Luton Town on Tuesday. Orient have now fell behind in 8 of their last 10 games with Hendon revealing to leytonorient.com “that we shouldn’t have to keep battling back in games”

Speaking ahead of a tough trip north to face Morecambe tomorrow, Hendon stated “We need to turn draws into wins. We go and try to win every game”. Hendon’s men only have 1 win in their last 10 games with defensive frailties costing them recently. Hendon revealed his frustration on the goals conceded “Every mistake is unfortunately costing us so we need to eradicate them from our game”.

Orient do have the League’s top scorer in Jay Simpson who took his tally to 11 in 14 games after netting the equalizer at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday with Hendon revealing that the former Arsenal and Hull forward is in “the form of his life”. Simpson had a injury hit time last season but revealed after the Luton match to leytonorient.com that “in this team players are going to create chances, some times strikers wonder where the next one is coming from but if you miss one, you need to stay alert as there is another one coming”

Despite Orient’s recent inconsistent form, Simpson insists that everyone at the club is pushing in the right direction, “We all want to win, we are all desperate to win, no-one will give up and we are all pulling in the right direction”. With only 8 points from the last 24 available, Simpson knows that “we are only 14 games in, we have only lost three, we have had a lot of draws, we have to turn draws into wins in the future”.

Orient face Morecambe tomorrow who sit level on points and a place below the O’s but Simpson knows exactly where Orient want to be come May, “there is a long way to go, come May we want to be in the top 3, we need to stick with the pack but I don’t think we are in a bad position”. Both sides sit just four points off the automatic positions as they battle tomorrow which puts the league’s two highest scorers together.

Hendon highlighted the threat that Morecambe will possess tomorrow, speaking ahead of the clash tomorrow to leytonorient.com “we are up against the top goalscorers in the league and know it will be tough but we will prepare and get ourselves ready for the game”. Orient have not won on the road since a 3-2 win at Newport back in mid August but Simpson highlighted their intent tomorrow “we will go up there hoping to come back with the 3 points, we are going to put the work in and we are going up there to bring back the points”.

• Orient’s away record W2, D3, L2
• There has been at least 2 goals  in every league match involving Orient this season
• Orient have not won when they conceded first – D5, L2
• Orient have failed to keep a clean sheet in last 10 games in all competitions
• Orient have taken 18 of their 23 point when they have scored first

Morecambe go into tomorrow’s clash after picking up their fourth consecutive win in all competitions as they beat Crawley 3-1 on Tuesday night. Morecambe have been somewhat of a surprise package in League 2 this season and have been free scoring throughout the campaign. The Shrimps have hit 31 goals in 14 games this season – including 11 in the least three league matches.

Manager Jim Bentley stated morecambefc.com after the victory over Crawley on Tuesday “it was a massive win for us, I think performance wise it can be better but the big think is to score 3 goals again”. He added “we needed to win tonight, we haven’t been good in the last couple of games here. We are scoring goals but defensively haven’t been great; we have players in form at the moment”

• Average 2.21 goals a game
• Conceded the joint most in League with 26
• Kept only 1 clean sheet in 14 league games – 0-0 draw with Oxford
• Only failed to score in 3 games all season
• Failed to score in 1 of their last 13 games and scored in each of last 6 games
• Morecambe won 3 and lost 4 at home – all 4 losses when they have conceded first
• Morecambe have taken 16 of their 23 when they have scored first

Bentley’s side sit 7th but with two games against sides in amongst them, he knows that it could make the lead even tighter come next Saturday. Despite Morecambe’s games seeing the most goals in the division, Morecambe only achieved an attendance of 1098 on Tuesday night. Bentley commented to Morecambefc.com “we have to keep our feet on the ground but I am disappointed with the turnout, we work extremely hard as a club. We can’t do much more than be the League’s top scorers, this football club needs community backing; it is very hard to sustain a football league club without it”.

Midfielder Kevin Ellison recently returned from suspension and has played an integral part to his sides winning run. Speaking to morecambefc.com he stated “It was important that we backed it up today, there was no point in winning at Carlisle and Wimbledon. But we did it, we haven’t been great at home but the win was the important thing”. Ellison’s teammate Shaun Miller struck his 7th goal in 5 games on Tuesday night and will be a threat against an Orient side struggling to keep clean sheets.

Bentley is expected another tough test as Orient visit tomorrow, “it will be a tough game, they were one of the fancied sides, they started extremely well and still have players capable of playing in League 1. Ian Hendon is a man I know well, Orient have been up and down of late but all games in this division are tough. They will expect a difficult game for us but the most important thing from Tuesday was we broke the cycle and got the win under our belt that we needed”.

Team News

Jim Bentley looks set to have a relatively full fit squad with only Peter Murphy and Lawrence Wilson missing through injury. Shaun Miller looks set to continue in attack but Paul Mullin is hoping for a start after netting Morecambe’s third on Tuesday night.

Ian Hendon only has long term absentee Paul McCallum missing for tomorrow’s trip however Ollie Palmer is struggling with a hamstring injury which forced him off in Tuesday draw at Luton.

Head to Head – No Prior meetings

Prediction – Morecambe 2-2 Leyton Orient