Leyton Orient player manager Kevin Nolan is loving every minute of his time at Brisbane Road. Nolan who was appointed last week saw his side pick up back to back wins for the first time since August with victory over Newport on Tuesday. Orient look to cement their place in the play offs with Nolan speaking to leytonorient.com earlier today “I love being tested and love a challenge,I love everything that is going on at the moment, as long as the results and performances are positive then I’m happy. The most pleasing thing is the lads are buying in to what we are trying to do as coaching staff”.

• League Record – P28 W11 D10 L7  F44 A38
• Home Record- P14 W7 D4 L3 F24 A16
• Last home games (most recent result first) – WLWDDDWWL
• Form in last 8 – W3  D3  L2

Nolan saw his side pick up their second win of the week on Tuesday at home to Newport, thanks to a late second half penalty from Jay Simpson. Speaking after the game to leytonorient.com “the most pleasing aspect for me is 2 clean sheets on the spin, what we worked on when I came in here was if you were going to win a game you have to score more than 1 goal but as you’ve seen tonight, we scored a goal and kept a clean sheet”

• There has been at least 1 goal in every Orient league game

Goalkeeper Alex Cisak believes that Nolan deserves a lot of credit for getting his side keeping back to back clean sheets,”from the whole 11, we are defending a lot better, talking a lot more. We have done a lot of work in training which has helped massively”. Orient only kept 1 clean sheet in the league between September and January but the Australian shot stopper is enjoying his time in East London. Speaking to leytonorient.com after the Newport victory “another win, another clean sheet, we couldn’t have asked for a better start under him”

• First back to back clean sheets since August
• Kept 6 clean sheets in the league,  4 of them at home
• Kept 2 clean sheets in last 5 home games in all competitions
• Both Teams have scored in 20 of their 28 games and 9 of their 14 home games
• Only Portsmouth (3), Oxford (4) and Northampton (5) have conceded less goals at home in the second half (6)

Despite the victory moving Orient into the play off places, Cisak is keen to work on a game by game basis, “we just need to keep the run going as long as possible and take it 1 game at a time. It’s Cambridge Saturday, we need another really good defensive display”. Moving into the business end of the season, the momentum appears to be with the East London side and Cisak knows that his side need to keep looking up rather than down, “we are taking every game as it comes, there are 18 games left, 15 wins to get in the top 3, that is our goal really”

• Have scored in their last 12 league games
• Scored in 14 of their 16 home games this season
• Only failed to score in 2 of their 28 league games this season
• Scored 24 of their 44 goals in the second half with 15 of their 24 home goals coming in the second period
• Only Notts County (15) have scored more
• There has only been 1 goal in the first half of their last 4 matches

Orient’s 3rd game of the week sees Cambridge visit Brisbane Road and Orient’s player manager is keen for his side to start sharing the goals around, “generally we have been good and we have hurt teams, when we have a player like Jay Simpson if you get 1 chance he will put it in but we can’t just rely on Jay. We want to spread the goals around the team so that we are dangerous from every aspect of the game”

• Simpson has netted 50% of Orient league goals (22)
• Has netted in 5 of his last 6 games and 11 goals in his last 11 games
• Orient second top scorer has only 4 goals
• Simpson has netted 11 of Orient’s last 17 goals

Orient midfielder Jobi McAnuff insists that consistency is key until the end of the season for his side. The 34 year old understands that recovery is key at this stage to ensure that you are fully fit for every game,”it is about recovering between games and getting the load right”. Speaking to leytonorient.com earlier today, the ex Reading man knows that even though his side moved into the play off places on Tueday, “we want to put a bit of distance and cement our place in the play offs. This is where it really matter,we have put ourselves in a a reasonable position, this is the time where you can make the big move to where you want to be, we need to keep our heads down and get results”

• Orient have opened the scoring in the first 15 minutes of 7 matches and 12 times in the opening 30 minutes of matches
• Taken only 16 of their 43 points against sides in the top half of the table
• Drew 7 of their 13 games against top half sides

Nolan will go head to head with good friend Shaun Derry on the touchline tomorrow and knows that his side will be in for another tough test,”Shaun is a great fella, we have a lot of mutual friends, he wished me luck when I got the job and hopefully we can catch up after the game”. Nolan continued “we have had some good battles on the pitch over the years and we are in for another one on Saturday and really looking forward to it”

• Record when scoring first – W10 D4 L3 – at home W6 D1 L1
• Record when conceding first – W1 D6 L4 – at home W1 D3 L2
• Have taken 13 of a possible 15 when they have been leading at half time at home

Shaun Derry’s U’s arrive in E10 rescuing a point at home to Hartlepool last weekend thanks to a last gasp Ben Williamson goal. Derry’s men are without a win in 2016 but with his side sitting just 4 points outside the playoffs, the former Palace man knows that it is a key time for his side. Speaking to cambridge-united.co.uk ahead of tomorrow’s clash “whoever is going to break in to the top 7 knows they have to go on a run of results and performances and suggest they are going to be unbeaten for 5-6 games, we are 2 games unbeaten and looking forward to going to Leyton Orient”

• League Record – P28  W10  D8  L10  F40  A40
• Away Record – P14  W5  D5  L4  F20  A16
• Last Away Results (most recent first) – DLWWWLW
• Form in last 8 – W3 D3 L2
• Taken only 2 points from possible 12

Derry was left frustrated with his sides draw against Hartlepool last week but knows despite the position in the table, nothing ever should be taken for granted, “there was an element of disappointment in the stadium directly after the game. I think when you see a team that comes in 19th position there is an expectancy you should go out and beat this team, we all know that doesn’t happen”

• Kept 6 clean sheets- 4 away from home
• Kept 1 in their last 5 games and 2 in their last 13 games in all competitions
• Failed to score in 8 games, 7 of them away (joint worse in the league)
• Failed to score in 2 of their last 3 games

Once again Derry felt that the game changed when his substitutions entered the field, “we held vast amount of possession and controlled the game, but what we didn’t have was clear cut opportunities till the last 20 minutes when the subs came on. We have no divine right to win game we are trying our very best day in and day out and pleased with the level we are producing”

• Scored in 13 of their last 16 games
• 3 of their 5 away wins have been by a 1 goal margin
• All 4 away defeats have been by 1 goal
• 50% of their away games have seen 3 or more goals

With his side moving into the business end of the season, Derry wants his fans to not get too carried away with what they have seen on a match day, “the long term plan is to get this football club into league 1, we want to do it sooner rather than later of course but it might not happen that way, I have only just arrived and am pleased with out progress”

• Both teams have scored in 17 of their 28 games but only 6 of their 14 away games
• Conceded 26 of their 40 goals in the second half
• 18 of them have been in the final 30 minutes of matches
• Cambridge would  sit 4th if games lasted 60 minutes, dropped 5 points
• Opened the scoring in the first 15 minutes of 6 games

Derry revealed that he was in attendance at Orient  on Tuesday and acknowledges the tough test his side await tomorrow. Speaking to cambridge-united.co.uk yesterday, “they got their 2nd win on the bounce with Kevin Nolan coming in as manager. It will be a really difficult afternoon, they are a good team and probably have one of the strongest squads in the division. They find themselves in the top 7 and we have a difficult opponent on our hands but as always we want to take the game to them”

• Record when scoring first – W7 D2 L3 – away from home – W4 D1
• Unbeaten in last 12 away games scoring first, winning 8 of them
• Record when conceding first – W3 D3 L7 – away from home – W1 D1 L4

Although Derry and Nolan are friends within football, the Cambridge boss insists there will be no friendly words during the game, “I am looking forward to pitting my wits against him and hopefully we can share a drink afterwards but for that 95 minutes he becomes the firmest of enemies”. Derry added “he is 2 games in and finding his feet but am sure that his back room staff will give him a lot of support”

• Only taken 12 of their 38 points against top half teams – losing 6 games

Team News

Orient can include recent loan signing Shaun Brisley after the center half joined on loan till the end of the season from Peterborough this week, Nolan stated to leytonorient.com “he adds quality that we are looking for and puts pressure on the center halves we have now. We want to maintain healthy competition to ensure that standards are kept so high”

Cole Kpekawa will be absent with a foot injury while Alan Dunne has shaken off a knock ahead of the game tomorrow. Nolan will still be unable to call upon long term absentees in Paul McCallum, Dean Cox and Lloyd James.

Connor Newton is a doubt for the U’s who revealed today that Barry Corr will be out until the summer with a knee injury. Ryan Donaldson could be handed a start after impressing of the bench against Hartlepool.

• Barry Corr top scorer with 12 goals

Head to Head – Leyton Orient 12, Draw 13, Cambridge 17

Last Meeting – 12/09/15 – Cambridge 1-1 Leyton Orient

• 3 of the last 4 meetings have been draws – all finishing 1-1
• Orient have only won 1 of the last 5 games at Brisbane Road
• 6 of the last 8 meeting has seen both teams score

Prediction – Leyton Orient 2-0 Cambridge