Kevin Nolan believes his deadline day additions can add to his squad enough to challenge for promotion at the end of the season. Nolan added defenders Nicky Hunt and Jerome Binnom-Williams on Monday and hopes that the arrivals of the two can “add some good rivalry between players, we want the lads to ensure that standards don’t slip. We are all going to be needed till the end of season”.

• Sit 9th on 43 points, 1 point outside playoffs
• League Record – P29  W11  D10  L8  F45  A41
• Form last in last 8 – W3  D2  L3  F12  A13
• Away Record  – P14  W4  D6  L4  F20  A22
• Last Away games – WDLLDDLW

Ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Portsmouth, Nolan reflected on his sides defeat to Cambridge last weekend to leytonorient.com, “not doing the simple basics right, in the end cost us the game”. Orient were the own worst enemy with all three of Cambridge’s goals coming from individuals errors something which Nolan hopes his side have to stop “that was the most disappointing thing, they didn’t create anything apart from us gifting them 3 opportunities”.

• Only Cambridge have conceded as many goals as Orient in the top half
• Kept 6 clean sheets, 2 away from home
• Kept 2 clean sheets in their last 3 games
• Conceded 2 or more goals in 5 of their last 7 games
• There has been at least one goal in every Orient league match

After a hectic first week in charge at Brisbane Road, Nolan was able to spend more time with squad this week ahead of tomorrow’s clash at Fratton Park. Nolan, who has made two appearances of the bench so far, played in a reserve team fixture on Tuesday afternoon. Orient beat Southend 4-1 with Nolan stating “I was very pleased, it was nice to start a game. I got 45 minutes but had to come off a bit early after a knock to the knee hopefully it is okay for the weekend”.

• Only failed to score in 2 of their 29 league games (home to Accrington, away to Exeter)
• No team has a better record than Orient
• Scored in 13 of their 15 away games and their last 13 league matches
• Netted in 31 of their last 33 league matches
• Last 0-0 draw came against Barnsley (17/03/15) – 39 matches ago

Despite the disappointment of last weekend’s defeat, Nolan knows that it is not good to dwell on the performance, “I had my say on the performance so we put the Cambridge performance firmly behind us”. Orient’s player manager understands that key to picking up results is his side retaining possession more in games. Nolan stated that “we are looking to improve our turnover of possession, even though we had two great wins, we still can be better with the ball. We are trying to drill into them that they need to be comfortable and enjoy having the ball”.

• Both teams have scored in 21 of their 29 games and 11 of their 14 away games
• Conceded 18 of their 41 goals between 31-60 minutes
• Only Dagenham (20), Morecambe and Newport (19) have conceded more in that period
• 8 of their 22 away goals conceded have been in that period – no team has conceded more away from home in that period
• 20 of their 45 goals scored have been in the last 30 minutes of games
• Orient would sit 12th if games ended after 60 minutes 

Nolan knows that come the end of the season the aim has remained from the president, speaking to the East London advertiser earlier in the week, “the ultimate aim is to make sure come the end of the season we are in those play off places or even higher but it is 1 game at a time”. He added “we can’t get carried away with ourselves, it is a process we are going through at the moment. We are trying to make sure that we keep our feet firmly on the ground”.

• Only 8 points separates Bristol Rovers in 4th (47) and  Carlisle in 13th (39)

With Hunt and Binnom-Williams arrival on Monday, it takes Orient’s dealings to 6 in January. Both new arrivals are eager to get started at Brisbane Road, Binnom-Williams stated to leytonorient.com today “I have settled in well and feel comfortable. I know Paul, Blair and Frazer which made it easy”. Hunt played alongside Nolan for 9 years at Bolton earlier in his career stated “it was a too goo opportunity for me to turn down”. Hunt, 32, acknowledges that he can add much needed experience to the squad and wants to fight for his place in the side.

• Opened the scoring in 5 away matches in the first 15 minutes of games
• Record scoring first – W10 D4 L3  away W4 D3 L2
• Have only won 2 of their last 7 scoring first
• Record conceding first – W1 D6 L5  away W0 D3 L2
• Not win their last 10 away games conceding first – last win came at Chesterfield,     3-2 (14/02/15)
• Have only won 1 of their last 16 league matches conceding first

Orient beat Portsmouth 3-2 in a Boxing Day cracker with Nolan understanding exactly what the south coast club will be about tomorrow, “They are a good side, free flowing, like to play football and all are good on the ball”. Nolan added “They are exactly what Cook and Richardson are about, they leave everything on the pitch. We have to match them tomorrow and make sure we exploit their weaknesses”.

• Have drew 7 of their 15 games against the top half, 6 of them ended 1-1
• Taken only 16 of their 43 points against top half (38%)
• Only lost 2 of 10 matches against the top 8 sides (1-0 Accrington, 2-1 Bristol R)

Portsmouth head into tomorrow’s clash after picking up a draw away at Morecambe on Tuesday night. Gareth Evans gave Pompey the lead before Morecambe keeper Barry Roche equalised right at the death. Manager Paul Cook reflected on the result to portsmouthfc.co.uk earlier today “we came back and looked at everything but sometimes football is a cruel game. We went up there to do a professional job, we didn’t play well but nearly dug out a really good win”.

• Sit 5th on 45 points, 6 point off 3rd placed Oxford
• League Record – P27  W11  D12  L4  F45  A24
• Form in last 8 – W3  D3  L2  F14  A8
• Home record – P14  W5  D7  L2  F24  A8
• Last home games (most recent first) – LLWWDWW
• Only Middebrough (3), Man U (5), Hull City (6) and Arsenal (7) have conceded less goals at home than Portsmouth

Portsmouth have only won 1 of their last 5 games in all competitions but Cook knows that the results doesn’t really change his sides aim at the end of the season. “The players showed great character, it was hugely disappointing but in reality in doesn’t change a great deal, if we are going to be where we want to be at the end of the year we have to win games hopefully it could be the start of a good run”.

• Only Oxford (23) have a better defensive record in the league
• Kept 11 clean sheets, joint highest in league with Oxford and Wycombe
• 9 of them have been at home, only Middesbrough (11) have kept more in the top four leagues in England
• No clean sheet in last 5, but 3 of their last 4 home league matches have been clean sheets
• Both teams have scored in 15 of 27 home games and only 4 of their 14 home games

Cook acknowledges that his side are expected to be challenging for promotion with the size of the club however feels that his side put more pressure on themselves. The former Chesterfield manager knows that there is a hell of a lot of football to played and will finish where they deserve to finish. With back to back home games, Cook stated “if we can win tomorrow it would be a great platform to go into Bristol Rovers at home”.

• Failed to score in 7 matches, 6 of them have been at home
• Failed to score in 2 of their last 3 home league matches but scored in 12 of their last 14 matches in all competitions
• 2/3 of their goals have been scored in the second half with 3/4 of their home goals scored in that period
• Including 24 in the last 30 minutes, only Morecambe (26) have scored more in that period
• Would sit 11th if games ended after 60 minutes, gained 8 points in the final 30 minutes of matches

Portsmouth took nearly 500 fans to Morecambe on Tuesday night and Cook was quick to praise the magnificent support his side have, “it is a huge credit to them, my job along with the rest of the staff is to get the players to deliver for them on the pitch”. Cook feels that his side have done nothing wrong 95% of the time but hopes that everyone clubs together till the end of the season, “no-one knows what the end of the season will bring, but the more positivity around the club the better”.

• Record scoring first – W8 D2 L2 – home W4 D1
• Have not lost their last 11 home league scoring first
• Only lost 1 of their last 24 home league matches scoring first (2-1 to Southend, 24/01/15)
• Record conceding first – W3 D4 L2 – home W1 D1 L2

Gareth Evans netted in Portsmouth draw at Morecambe and the boxing day defeat to Orient earlier in the season. Evans knows that despite taking the lead at the Globe Arena, he realises that his side have to put teams to bed, “we could probably do with killing teams off, getting 2 or 3 goals, we need to see games out but unfortunately we couldn’t”. Evans is looking for revenge against Orient tomorrow after the defeat at Christmas, “it was a tough game Boxing day, we dominated the first 20 minutes bu then had a man sent off. We will be looking to get our own back tomorrow”.

• 4 of their 5 home wins have been by at least a 3 goal margin
• They have not won a home game against the top half – D3 L2
• Taken only 17 of their 45 points against the top half
• Top half record – P12  W4  D5  L3

Team News

Kevin Nolan hopes to have a fully fit squad to pick from apart from long term absentees Paul McCallum, Lloyd James and Dean Cox. Sammy Moore will be pushing for a start alongside recent signings Armand Gnanduillet Shaun Brisley, Nicky Hunt and Jerome Binnom-Williams.

Hunt who played against Portsmouth for Mansfield earlier in the season feels he knows what his side have to do to stop them playing. He stated to leytonorient.com “they like passing the ball if you stop them switching the play then I feel you stop the majority of their play. We will look to that and counter them”

Portsmouth manager Paul Cook is without Danny Hollands who remains sidelined while Adam Webster is a doubt. January signings  Kieron Freeman and Michael Smith could make their Fratton Park debuts tomorrow afternoon

Head to Head – Portsmouth 15, Draw 13, Leyton Orient 12

Last Meeting – 26/12/15 – Leyton Orient 3-2 Portsmouth

• Orient have won the last 5 matches
• Both Teams have score in 3 of the last 4 meetings
• Orient have scored at least 3 goals in 3 of the last 4 meetings
• Have netted 7 times in their last 2 visits to Fratton Park (3-2, 2012; 4-1, 2001)
• Portsmouth last beat Orient in 1996, 2-0 in League Cup
• They last beat Orient in the league in 1976, 2-1

Prediction – Portsmouth 2-1 Leyton Orient