Leyton Orient player manager Kevin Nolan was full of praise for his side after their 2-0 victory at Wycombe on Saturday. Nolan who was appointed last Thursday after Ian Hendon was sacked, spoke to leytonorient.com after their win, “It feels great I must admit, our first away win, a clean sheet and 2 well taken goals. The lads responded to everything I asked if them over the last 48 hours”.

• Sit 8th on 40 points, 2 points outside the playoffs
• League Record – P27 W10 D10 L7  F43  A38
• Home Record – P13 W6 D4 L3  F23 A16
• Last Home games (most recent first) – LWDDDW
• Form in Last 8 – W2 D4 L2  F12  A12

Nolan now faces 2 home games this week with his side hosting Newport County tomorrow night before Cambridge United on Saturday and the former West Ham man knows that they will not be easy games. Orient’s victory at Wycombe came with their first clean sheet in 12 league matches, something which Nolan feels that performances need to be built on. Jay Simpson netted his 21st goal of the season and the Orient player manager acknowledges his importance “we want to get up to League 1, if we want to do that we can’t let our best players go, Jay is one of them. I said to the lads, keep a clean sheet then he gets 1 chance, he scores and we win the game 1 nil”.

• Kept 5 clean sheets in the league, 3 of them at home
• Clean sheet at Wycombe was their first in the league since 24th October
• Without a clean sheet in a home league match in 10 games – last one 29th August
• Have just 1 in their last 12 home matches
• Been at least 1 goal in every Leyton Orient league match this season

Despite his appointment, Nolan understands the focus and aim of president Francesco Bechetti “we will try and get this club striving forward and get into those play off positions to continue to try and get into League 1. That is the ultimate aim this year, we haven’t shyed away from that, the President and his staff told me that’s what we want”. With his first win under his belt the 33 year old understands that there will be downs along his journey but “is really looking forward to it but as long as what we are doing on the training pitch is effective on a Saturday”

• Only failed to score in 2 of their 27 league matches
• Scored in their last 11 league games, last failed to score 31st October vs Accrington
• Only failed to score in 1 of their 15 home games this season
• Taken 13 points from a possible 18 in home games against sides in the bottom half of the table
• Record against teams in bottom half – W7 D3 L4 

With reports unsure of Nolan’s coaching qualifications, he put that question to bed as he has his B license with him hoping to complete his A license by the end of the summer, but “that is not important to me, I’m in the job and will do it to the best of my ability, hopefully everybody in the club will buy into what I am trying to bring and we can be successful”.

• 50% of their home wins have been by a 2 goal margin
• Both teams have scored in 20 of Orient’s 27 League matches

Top scorer Jay Simpson replicated Nolan’s iconic “chicken celebration” after his goal on Saturday and highlighted that his manager was quick to thank the players for their efforts. Speaking to the East London Advertiser “Kevin thanked us for our efforts because of what went on and nobody really knew what was happening”. Simpson added “before the match he said go our there, work hard,speak to each other and enjoy it”.

• Simpson top scorer in top four English Leagues with 21 league goals
• Scored 49% of Orient’s league goals
• Scored 12 goals in his last 10 league games

With Newport in town tomorrow night, Nolan is looking for more of the same from his sides second half performance. Orient’s player manager thought his side were not taking their time over their decisions and rushing when they had possession. However Nolan stated that at half time he “asked for a bit more quality on the ball, we sat them down and just asked them to show their quality, they are all good players and can all handle the ball, they did and I am really pleased”

• Orient alongside Northampton have scored 15 goals in the opening 30 minutes of matches,no team has scored more
• 14 of their 23 home goals scored have been in the second half with 13 in the final 30 minutes
• No team has scored more in that period
• Opened the scoring 7 times in the opening 15 minutes of matches- only Wimbledon have equalled that
• Record scoring first W9 D4 L3 – home – W5 D1 L1
• Conceded first- W1 D6 L4- home -W1 D3 L2

Newport arrive in E10 having fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home to Dagenham on Saturday. The Exiles fell behind to 2 goals in the first 6 minutes on Saturday but scored two late goals to rescue a draw against one of their relegation rivals. It has been a season of change in South Wales with Warren Feeney recently becoming the third manager of the season.

• Sit 20th on 24 points
• League Record P26 W5 D9 L12 F30  A41
• Away Record  P13 W4 D3 L6  F14  A16
• Last away games (most recent first)- WLLWDDDWW
• Form in last 8 – W2 D3 L3  F13  A13

Following John Sheridan’s departure to Oldham in early January, Feeney stepped up from his assistant manager role to take charge of the Welsh club. Feeney spoke to newport-county.co.uk after their draw “before the game we said, we all want to win matches but the position we are in you don’t lose against these teams, we are disappointed with the goals we conceded and it was the worst possible start for us”

• Have failed to score in 10 league matches
• Only Yeovil (11) have failed to score in more games
• 6 of them away from home
• Scored in their last 4 games
• Only failed to score in 2 of their last 17 games in all competitions

Despite falling behind, Feeney was happy with how his side responded and felt that there was going to be only 1 winner, “you want 3 points every game but it was a fantastic comeback, that is the thing that pleased me was our never say die attitude, I want my players to train hard, play hard and get in to habits of not losing”.

• Both Teams have scored in 12 of their 16 games, (only Wycombe 11, have been involved in less

Poor concentration was the key to the early goals conceded said Feeney who feels that despite the attacking intent of teams, defending must be top of the agenda. “I am a big believer that defenders defend first and foremost. They should defend that goal end of story, we have to defend set pieces, we didn’t which is disappointing but we have to put the goals behind us and take the positives to Tuesday”.

• Scored 15 goals in last 30 minutes of games and 8 in last 15 minutes
• But have lost 5 points in the last 15 minutes of games

The Newport boss most important target is clean sheets, speaking after the game”I want to clean sheets, I am being greedy but clean sheets win football games, we can’t keep giving teams 2 goal starts like we did”. However the former Northern Irish international knows that with his side sitting just 4 points above the relegation zone sometimes you  “don’t care how we win games as long as we get over the line, sometimes you have to win football matches ugly and grinding out results”

• Kept 6 clean sheets, 4 of them away from home
• Only 1 clean sheet in last 7 games
• 2 in their last 4 away games
• 18 of their 41 goals conceded have between minutes 31-60
• Only York and Dagenham (19) have conceded more in that period
• Conceded 2 or more goals in 6 of their last 7 matches

County added 3 strikers to their ranks before Saturday’s draw with Dagenham with Deane Smalley joining from Plymouth, John Christophe-Ayina joining and Connor Wilkinson signing from Bolton. Both Ayina and Wilkinson netted on their debuts with Wilkinson adding that it was extra special with his dad in the crowd. Wilkinson spoke to newport-county.co.uk post match “to be fair we are happy getting the draw, coming from 2 nil down, the boys showed their character, we knew at half time were going to try and get something from the game”

• Record scoring first – W5 D3 L2 – away W4 D2 L1  (defeat 4-3 at Notts County)
• Recording conceding first – D4 L10  away L5 
• Only 3 teams have taken less points from losing positions than County this season
• Only won 1 of their last 33 games conceding first, losing 22 of their last 29 
• They have never won an away match after conceding first since their promotion back to football league in 2013, taking just 2 points from 72 available

The 20 year felt that his side could have won the game in the end “we had enough chances to win the game, 3 points would have been nice but coming from 2 nil down to get a point is good”. Wilkinson has already been loaned out 5 times by his parent club Bolton and realises that is may be his time to shine in Wales, “Feeney wants me to play, he knows what I am capable of, I have not done too well at my previous clubs, I have had arguments and fallen out with the managers. I have been stupid but Feeney just wants me to play and express myself”.

Team News

Orient should have a full fit squad to chose from with Sammy Moore returning from his injury while new signing Nigel Atangana looks set to retain his place after being substituted on Saturday after sustaining cramp. Nolan will still be unable to call upon long term absentee’s Paul McCallum and Dean Cox who continue their rehab from knee ligament injuries.

County could hand a start to Jean Christophe-Ayina after netting from the bench on Saturday while Medy Elito could return at Brisbane Road. Connor Dymond could return to the squad after missing out the draw against Dagenham. Feeney resigned defender Darren Jones after his release from Forest Green last week.

Head to Head -Leyton Orient 17, Draw 13, Newport County 17

Last Meeting -22/08/15  Newport County 2-3 Leyton Orient

• Orient have won 2 of the last 3 meetings between the sides
• This season was the first time the sides met in 27 years

Prediction – Leyton Orient 3-1 Newport County