Goals from Jamille Matt and Tom Aldred inflicted Leyton Orient’s seventh consecutive home defeat – a new club record. Blackpool took the lead when Matt out muscled O’s defender Yvan Erichot before firing beyond Alex Cisak. Orient struggled to create going forward, fallin two behind when their failure to deal with set piece struck once more when Tom Aldred headed home. Substitute Paul McCallum did halve the deficit a minute from time but Orient fell to a new club record of – Seven straight home defeats. 

Following their 3-0 away win at Colchester last weekend, O’s manager Alberto Cavasin named an unchanged side, continuing with a midfield diamond. Ollie Palmer continued to be partnered by Jay Simpson who was looking to build on his brace last week.

Blackpool who were unbeaten in their last five games in all competitions also remained unchanged from their 4-0 home victory over Notts County. Manager Gary Bowyer continued with Jamille Matt and Kyle Vassell, who were involved in all four goals last weekend. Former O’s loanee Jack Payne started against his former club in midfield.

In a quiet opening period, neither side were able to create any clear cut openings with Nigel Atagana having a tame shot at Sam Slocombe while Danny Pugh volleyed over from distance. Blackpool were trying to find Kyle Vassell in behind the Orient back line and the former Posh striker was a continued nuisance for the home side.

Brad Potts had the first clear cut opening when Kevin Mellor won the ball on the half way line, the ball was played to Potts who made a run between Nicky Hunt and Yvan Erichot. Potts’s touch took him on to goal but home keeper Alex Cisak smothered the ball behind for a corner.

Orient attacking play was using Ollie Palmer as a target man with runners off him in attack. O’s thought they had taken the lead when a quick break saw Gavin Massey exchange passes with Jay Simpson but the former Colchester man strayed offside.

Blackpool’s attacking quartet were exchanging positions with Colin Daniel net to try his luck after Robbie Weir’s poor clearance but the wide man could only fire over. However, the Tangerines did take the lead when a ball forward saw Jamille Matt brush O’s defender Yvan Erichot with ease, before cutting back and firing home.

The goal seemed to wake Orient up and went agonizingly close to drawing level but Gavin Massey’s effort crashed off of the post. Andy Taylor saw a free kick saved for the visitors before Kyle Vassell snatched a volley when he was left unmarked at the back post following a corner.

Michael Collins was lively for the home side going forward and was looking to link play but drifted offside when played through. His interchange around the box with Simpson was started to find space but Orient’s best chance came when a well worked corner fell to Tom Parkes but the defender volleyed his effort over.

Blackpool continued to be threatening on the attack with Colin Daniel seeing an effort blocked just before half time. The second half started as the first half ended with the away side a threat in behind with than man Vassell a constant outlet for Blackpool.

Alan Dunne replaced the injured Yvan Erichot for the home side and nearly created an opening for Orient but his right wing cross was blocked. The pattern of the second half was set with Blackpool sitting back, hitting Orient on the counter. Vassell could have added to his 10 goals already this season but after a run down the right, he cut back on to his right foot but Cisak saved well down to his right.

But surprise surprise, Orient fell two behind from guess what? Oh another set piece their 15 goal conceded from  a set piece this season and their eighth in their last six matches. Even with all 11 men back for the corner, Tom Aldred was allowed acres of space t head home at the front.

With Blackpool high in confidence, they continued to find space going forward with Vassell firing just wide from distance while right back Kevin Mellor narrowly struck over when venturing forward. The link up between Potts, Matt and Vassell was very good with all three linking up but Matt’s goalbound header was blocked by Tom Parkes.

Orient threw on Sandro Semedo and Paul McCallum in search of a way back into the game which they got just a minute from time. Following a good move, Alan Dunne’s cross found the Paul McCallum who headed home. Orient pushed for an equaliser but Robbie Weir saw his effort blocked after getting on the end of a Paul McCallum flick on.

Well, we all knew the outcome of yesterday’s match before it even kicked off, it was envitable win away one week, lose at home the next. Why? Well when there appears no ability to actually work out how the opposition will play against you, there will always be a problem. Any body who has watched Blackpool this season will understand that they look for balls over the top and have strong, powerful strikers. According to Orient this doesn’t matter. I mean they scored two identical goals this season already. Just look below:

Yes, we won last weekend at Colchester but was that as playing well or Colchester playing very bad. Yvan Erichot stated on monday “However Erichot seems the perfect fit when teams decide to go direct against you but when a team will play balls down the channel and force your defenders towards their own goal, this is where the problem arise” Footballanalyst.net

The problems did arise and too many of them, then when a team has an outlet such as Kyle Vassell they will always look threatening in attack. He was a constant menace against Orient and was the perfect foil for Jamille Matt in attack.

Then the substitution choices keeping Robbie Weir on and taking Michael Collins off, I mean Collins was our most influential player going forward in attack. Weir seemed to have an off day last week with a good display, falling back to his poor standards of this season.

With bottom of the table Exeter arriving in E10 on Tuesday, it already has the feeling of a six pointer even at this stage of the season. A side that somehow has a worse home record than Orient, how is that possible? Before travelling to free scoring Doncaster next weekend when John Marquis is looking on with joy at the amount of space he will be allowed next week.