Leyton Orient midfielder Jobi McAnuff insists that his side are a match for anyone in the division ahead of their trip to League Leaders Plymouth Argyle tonight. The midfielder made his first appearance in an Orient shirt after a summer of speculation surrounding the former Reading captain. It is widely known that McAnuff trained with a host Championship clubs in the summer but nothing progressed and is now “glad to be back amongst the squad” 

McAnuff spoke to leytonorient.com yesterday “from a team point of view, it was brilliant to get a win and hopefully get on a little run now, obviously a tough game coming up and we will go in full of confidence”. Orient picked up only their third league win since the start of September and McAnuff is urging his side to be in the mix come the new year, “all about being in the mix really between now and new year, there are a lot of games, from experience if you are in that position, you have a good chance for the second half of the season”.

• 4 of Orient’s next 6 games are at home
• Orient form in last 8 – W3, D2, L3
• Last 4 games away – LWDL
• Away form – P9, W3, D3, L3, F13, A16
• Failed to keep clean sheet in last 4 games and only kept 1 in last 15 games
• Conceded in 10 of 11 matches away from home
• Only Morecambe and Carlisle have scored more League goals than Orient this season
• Orient have only failed to score in 2 of 21 matches in all competition, scored in last 6 away games
• Orient have conceded 16 away from home but 10 have been in last 15 minutes of both halves

With McAnuff’s inclusion back in the matchday squad, Ian Hendon was asked post match who made the decision “Jobi’s in the squad, he’s involved, that’s it, it’s over with”. He added “it doesn’t matter who, he’s back involved, back in the first team squad and where he is going to stay”. With influential play maker Dean Cox injured alongside striker Paul McCallum, fans were calling for the recall of McAnuff after being left out for the start of the season.

Orient were kept in an hotel after their defeat to Hartlepool in the run up to the York victory but Hendon added “at the end of the day, it was about today, it was well worth it, we won a game of football”. Hendon spoke after Orient’s victory over York on Saturday to leytonorient.com “It is another victory, another 3 points towards the total. We created more than them, on the whole yet again we have controlled the game and could have come out bigger victors”. 

On loan Millwall striker John Marquis echoed his manager’s views post match “the plan was to go out and get three points, thankfully we have done that, we could have made it easier for ourselves”. Marquis dropped down a division to get some game time after seeing his opportunities at the New Den decreasing “I am happy to be playing, I am here to help the team and get game time, hopefully some more goals will come my way”.

Saturday’s victory saw Orient’s top scorer Jay Simpson back on the score sheet to take his tally to 13 League goals for the season. Hendon spoke about Simpson “Jay that is what he is about, he has had a little quiet spell, a matter of time till he starting scoring again”. Marquis assisted Simpson’s first goal on Saturday and stated the importance of the former Arsenal front man to Orient “it was never really in doubt, Jay is the top goalscorer in the league for a reason, he is a great player and we are very lucky to have him”.

• Simpson has scored 13 of Orient’s 30 League Goals this term 
• Only Jamie Vardy has scored as many as the Orient striker in the top 4 leagues in England
• They were Simpson’s first goals in four matches
• Simpson is in the most prolific spell of his career

Plymouth head in to tonight’s match with Orient after losing 3 of their last 4 matches in all competitions. However Argyle boss Derek Adams is not concerned with his sides performances after losing the Devon Derby to Exeter on Saturday. Speaking after his sides 2-1 defeat on Saturday to pafc.com, Adams stated “we are disappointed we haven’t been able to get that victory which the support deserved but it wasn’t from the want of trying”.

• Plymouth 1st – 38 points from 18 games
• Home form – W6, D1, L2 F15 A8  – they have the joint best home record in the league
• Kept 8 clean sheets – 3 of them at home but haven’t kept one in last 4 and only 1 in their last 7
• Argyle have the joint best defensive record in the league, conceding only 14 all season
• Lost 2 of their last 5 in the league
• Score in all 9 home league matches, only failed to score in 1 of 13 matches played at home park in all competitions

Despite losing, Adams still feels his side had enough chances to win the game on another day “we had a lot of chances especially 2nd half to try and get back in the game, but we just didn’t get the 1 which leveled the scores”. Adams revealed that his side had to change tactics within the game after being surprised by Exeter, “we had to come out in the 2nd half and change our game and style of football”.

• Only conceded 8 goals at home but 6 of them have been in the last 15 of both halves (31-45, 76-90)
• Only Oxford have conceded less at home than Plymouth
• Scored 66% of their goals in second half at home – 10 of 15
• Picked up 34 of 38 points when scored first goal
• Record W11, D1, L0 – home – W5, D1, L0
• Only collected 3 points from a possible 15 when conceding first
• 7 of their 12 wins have been by a 1 goal margin
• All 4  losses have been by just 1 goal
• Graham Carey and Jake Jervis have been involved in 18 of Argyle’s 28 goals

Adams is fully aware of the threat which Jay Simpson could pose to his side ahead of tonight’s clash. Speaking to pafc.com yesterday Adams stated, “they have got a lot of goals through him this season and have got a number of players that have come down from the division above”. He added “Simpson is their main threat and he is scoring goals for them, we have got a lot of goalscorers in our side and we need to score goals to beat them”.

O’s manager Ian Hendon highlighted to leytonorient.com that “It will be nice to go to the table toppers and try to upset them, they have had a little bit of a sticky spell aswell, they got beaten at home on Saturday and the pressure is on them”. Despite being top of the table, Adams sees things differently at Home Park “we look at points more than where we are and how we are playing as a team. We are doing really well and have got a good points total and want to continue that”

Team News

Plymouth still look set to be without Reuben Reid who has been injured since October while Hiram Boateng and Peter Hartley look also set to miss out. However Luke McCormick and Carl McHugh could return after missing the defeat to Exeter on Saturday. Adam revealed that “for Tuesday night we might get 1 or 2 back but we will take it from there, some of the injuries are longish term but we cannot do anything about”

Orient will assess captain Mathieu Baudry after he went off with an injury on Saturday against York. Long term absentees Dean Cox, Paul McCallum and Connor Essam remained sideline while Charlie Grainger is still recovering from an appenddicitis. Jobi McAnuff is set to keep his place on the bench while recent signings Jean-Yves M’Voto and Carl Kpekawa could start if Baudry fails to pass a fitness test.

Head to Head – Plymouth 25, Draw 9, Leyton Orient 18

Last Meeting – 12/08/14 – Plymouth 3-3 Leyton Orient – Carling Cup

• It will be the first league meeting between sides since 2011
• Orient have won the last 3 meetings between sides
• Plymouth have only won 1 of the last 8 against Orient, losing 5
• Orient have won 4 of their last 6 trips to Home Park

Prematch thoughts Jobi McAnuff “If we can play like that we will be a match for anyone, their flying high and we have got to go there and give them a tough game. It is not easy being at the top but we have to make it a hard game”

John Marquis “you may call it an upset, we are definitely looking to go there and win, they have been on a little bit of a rocky run lately. We are definitely looking to go there and win, all we can do is prepare right and make sure we are ready to got Tuesday night”

Prediction- Plymouth 1-1 Leyton Orient