Kevin Nolan is expecting a battle when his side travel to 2nd bottom York City tomorrow. Orient head into tomorrow’s crunch clash after losing both games over Easter and knows it will be another tricky game for his side.

• League Record – P39  W16  D11  L12  F53  A51
• Form in last 8 – W4  D1  L3  F7  A6
• Away Record – P19  W7  D7  L5  F25  A25
• Last away games (most recent first) – LWDWWWD

Nolan’s men only sit 8th, outside the playoffs by two points despite their defeats over Easter but defender Jerome Binnon Williams understands that his side need to bounce back at Bootham Crescent tomorrow. Speaking to leytonorient.com earlier today “we were not happy with the loss, hopefully we can bounce back this week. It happens in football but we have to keep at it and go again”.

• Failed to score in 6 games (2 away from home)
• Failed to score in 3 of their last 5 games
• Orient failed to score in their last two games, the last time they failed to score in back to back games was 21/03/2015 – a run of 48 league matches
• Did you know? The last time Orient failed to score in three consecutive League matches was December 2012

Midfielder Nigel Atangana was disappointed with the manner of the goals conceded in their last two games. Speaking after the defeat to Hartlepool to leytonorient.com “it was a tough game, we are all disappointed with the results and the manner of the goals conceded. We haven’t had a clean sheet in the last two games but we had a discussion after the game”.

• 9 of Orient’s 16 wins have been by 1 goal including 5 of their last 7 wins
• Have scored 2 or more goals  in 14 games but only managed that in 5 of their last 19 league games
• Have scored 32 of their 53 goals in the second half including 14 of their 25 away goals – 11 of their last 12 goals been scored in second half
• 25 of 53 goals and 9 of their 25 away goals have been scored in the last 30 minutes of matches
• Only Bristol Rovers (13) and Wimbledon (15) have gained more points than Orient (12) in that period – The O’s would sit 13th if games ended at 60 minutes

With Orient’s next two fixtures away from home, Kevin Nolan is hoping his side build on their recent good form on their travels. Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s trip to leytonorient.com “we’ve prided ourselves on our clean sheet record and our away form. So having the next two away maybe takes a bit of pressure off the lads of playing at home”. The O’s have struggled to break teams down at home with Nolan expressing “sometimes we find it a bit more difficult having to take the game to the opposition”.

• Kept 11 clean sheets – (5 away from home)
• Failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 2, have 2 clean sheets in their last 4 and 7 in 13 games under Nolan
• 7 of Nolan’s 13 game in charge have been 0-0 at half time – Orient last 0-0 in the league came 49 games ago – 17/03/15 (0-0 vs Barnsley)
• Have taken 23 points from possible 27 when leading at half time
• But only taken 4 points from 30 when losing at half time

Atangana has been an integral part to the O’s since his arrival in January and knows his teammates have to repay the fans. “I am disappointed for the fans as well, we haven’t rewarded them over Easter and for that I’m sorry but am sure we will do the maximum we can to take back in the play offs”. With just over a month left of the season, the end of season will be key for Orient if they are to reach the play offs with Atangana issuing “it is seven cup finals left for us now, I know it is a cliche but we have to take it game by game”.

Leyton Orient’s nearest rivals and their run in

• Record against bottom half – P19  W11 D4  L4    – 37/59 points – 63%
• Away Record against bottom half – P9  W4  D3  L2

Orient face the current bottom two in two of their next three games but Nolan doesn’t think that it will mean easy pickings for his side”it will be a difficult game at York, they are fighting for their lives and we have got to make sure we fight against them”. He added “we are fighting to get back into the play offs at the end of the day, that’s what it will come down to, who wants it more. If we can match them, our quality can shine through”.

• Record scoring first – W15  D5  L3         away – W7  D4  L2
• Have won their last 7 scoring first
• Record conceding first – W1  D6  L9      away – D3  L3
• Have only won 1 of their last 20 when conceding first – W1  D7  L12
• Have not won any of their last 11 away games conceding first
• Won only once in their last 17 away games conceding first – W1  D5  L11

York host Orient on the back of picking up only two points from a possible 27 and are without a win their last nine league matches. Jackie McNamara’s men sit 23rd, seven points from safety after their 3-2 defeat at Plymouth on Easter Monday. York went 3-0 down in the first half however their second half comeback was not enough to pick up any points.

• League Record – P39  W6  D10  L23  F43  A74
• Form in last 9 – D2  L7  
• Home record – P19  W5  D5  L9  F27  A34
• Last home games (most recent first) – DDLLWWW

Despite it being an uphill task to survive, McNamara still believes that his side can escape the drop. Speaking after the defeat to Plymouth to yorkcity.co.uk “I thought we played well which is the frustrating thing. We started well with a few chances then we lost our way and conceded three all of which were preventable”. Regardless of being 3-0 down, McNamara thought his side showed their character in the second half “I thought we were fantastic, our passing was good and it was probably the best we’ve played for a while”.

• Failed to score in 10 games – only failed once in home matches
• Only Northampton (1) and Accrington (0) have better records
• Have scored in their last 4 games and 7 of their last 9 games
• 17 of their 27 home goals have been scored in the second half

When down at the bottom, McNamara feels that luck is not going with his side, “we don’t seem to be carrying a lot at the moment, anything at all seems to be getting punished, every little thing seems to end up in our net, but the good sign is we are creating chances”.

• Record against top half – P19  W1  D4  L14 
• Have lost all 11 games played against the current top 8 – scoring 9 and conceding 34
• Record against bottom half – P20  W5  D6  L9

York’s run in sees them face sides with promotion on the agenda but the York boss knows it will be a tough task to survive, “there is no doubt it will be tough, the games are dwindling down, it is possible but we have to do things properly. We need to win games, we are capable of doing so but certain things are costing us which is disappointing and frustrating because it is in the players to create and play well”.

• Did you know? York City have trailed for 1348 minutes this season, 206 more than anybody else in League 2

Midfielder Luke Summerfield made no secret of where his side must improve in the coming games, speaking to yorkcity.co.uk “we need clean sheets, simple as that, it is the whole team, we need to work better to stop conceding goals and hopefully next week it will come” Summerfield netted from the spot at Plymouth and acknowledges that creating chances is not a problem for his side “we looked a threat every time going forward, we create enough but we are not taking them or being clinical enough is costing us”

• Only Colchester (87) have conceded more goals than York (74) in the top 5 English leagues (including the National League) (116) 
• Kept 4 clean sheets  – 2 at home
• Without a clean sheet in their last 9
• Only have one clean sheet in their last 33 league games (2-0 home win vs Exeter)
• 7 of their 9 home defeats have been by just 1 goal

With Kevin Nolan’s Orient in town tomorrow, McNamara’s aim is simple “we have to get more points than Stevenage, if we win tomorrow and they draw, it gets even closer. A few wins changes everything”. Speaking ahead of the game tomorrow to yorkcity.co.uk “we are running out of games and have to make it count. We have to do things properly and make sure we get the three points tomorrow. The belief is still there and I genuinely believe we can escape, others will write us off but the signs are there, it is within us to win and stay in the league”.

• Have conceded 44 of their 74 goals in the second half – including 30 in the final 30 minutes of matches
• Only Stevenage (31) and Notts County (33) have conceded more in that period
• They have lost 10 points in that period, only Dagenham (13) have lost more
• They have won all 4 matches when they have been leading at half time
• However, they have taken only 2 points from a possible 48 when losing at half time

McNamara revealed that he has gone back to basics in training this week with his defensive unit, “we have stripped everything back and explained the importance of defending properly and not giving the opposition encouragement. The biggest problem is ourselves defending certain things means we give ourselves too much to do”.

• Record scoring first – W6  D6  L4        home – W5  D3  L2
• Won 3 of their last 4 at home scoring first
• 24/28 points picked up when scoring first
• Record conceding first – W0  D3  L19     home – D2  L7
• Have not won their last 25 games when they have conceded first (4 points/75)
• Have only 1 win in their last 36 conceding first (2-1 win vs Morecambe – 04/04/15)

Team News

Leyton Orient will welcome back both Jobi McAnuff and Callum Jahraldo-Martin who missed Orient’s Easter defeats to Accrington and Hartlepool. Shaun Brisley could return to the squad after missing the game on Easter Monday after picking up an injury. Mathieu Baudry will serve the last game of his suspension with both Lloyd James and Sammy Moore pushing for a recall to the starting 11.

Nolan spoke on his squad “we missed Shaun, the skip, Jobi and Callum which changed a lot of things, those lads played a major part over the last 4-5 weeks. I have a good enough squad that should be able to handle that but the performance level is not up to the level I expect”.

York will be without midfielder Russell Penn who was carried off at Plymouth on Monday with the extent of injury still unknown. Jake Hyde still remains a doubt alongside Josh Coulson and Reece Thompson. Lubomir Satka and Kyle Cameron are both set to return to the squad after missing the last two games after being away on International duty.

Head to Head – Leyton Orient    8,     Draw   7,    York City   12

Last meeting – 21/11/2015 – Leyton Orient 3-2 York City

• Orient have won the last two meetings between the sides
• 10 of the last 12 meetings have seen both teams score
• Orient have 2 wins in the last 14 meetings however before the last two games, they went 12 games without a win

Prediction – York City 0-2 Leyton Orient