Leyton Orient head coach Steve Davis is hoping that his side can turn a corner in October, starting with their trip to Tranmere tomorrow night. Davis stated to the East London Advertiser “one point out of the last 15 isn’t good enough, we have made a plan and October has to be Better”. 

• Sit 15th on 17 points
• League Record – P13  W5  D2  L6  F18  A22
• Form in last six – W1  D1  L4  F8  A12

The O’s fell to their fourth defeat in their last five games against AFC Fylde on Saturday. Two goals from Danny Rowe at the start of each half condemned Orient to a fifth game without victory. Winger Jobi McAnuff did halve the deficit late on but Orient were unable to draw level.

• Drew 1, Lost 4 – draw 2-2 at Aldershot, 23/09/17
• Only Torquay (3) have taken less points in September than Orient (4)
• Orient’s last win, 4-1 vs Guiseley, 02/09/17

Davis was disappointed that the game followed a similar pattern to recent matches where Orient have found it hard to break down teams Speaking to leytonorient.com post match “frustration in terms of allowing ourselves to get into the position to chase a game again, coming from behind, it seems to be a pattern of mistakes we are making and giving teams a chance”.

• Orient have conceded the first goal in their last six matches
• Orient have trailed for 331 minutes in their last 5 games – average of 66 minutes per match
• Orient have only led for 26 minutes in last five matches

Despite picking up a victory in their first game in September, Orient have only taken one point from their last five games. Davis highlighted that there was chat after the recent defeat to Fylde, “we chatted about mistakes and going behind gives us less control of winning games. We have to recover from one or two down with teams putting a block on. We need to concentrate more at the start of both halves and work our way into games”.

• Orient have conceded two or more goals in their last five matches
• Conceded two or more in seven of their 13 league games
• Orient have conceded two or more goals in 12 of their last 15 away league games

Striker Matt Harrold returned to the squad after missing out on the last two games and acknowledged that the side need to win. Speaking to leytonorient.com post match, “we conceded a couple of bad goals and we need to get back to keeping clean sheets. We realise we are on a bad run, five games without a win, four losses, is not great. We need to keep going, working hard and making our dominance pay. We need to start winning, in whatever way”.

• Only kept three clean sheets this season – two away
• Without a clean sheet in their last six
• One clean sheet in their last eight – 1-0 vs Maidenhead, 28/08/17
• Only Fylde (23), Guiseley (23) and Torquay (26) have conceded more National League goals than Orient (22)

Under Steve Davis, Orient have enjoyed large spells of possession but Harrold knows that football is all about the fine margins, “I don’t think we have deserved the results we’ve got, but that is football. It is about both boxes and we need to do better. We work hard and analyse things but they have not gone our way, it is down to us to change it”

• Failed to score in three of 13 games this season
• Scored in their last three and ten of their last 12 league games
• Scored in four of their last five away games
• Only scored two or more in two of their last eight games

With back to back away games this week, Davis highlighted that after his sides recent run of form, they may have to look at different options going forward. Speaking to East London Advertiser “we are losing games and conceding goals, we have to find a way of stopping that. We need to find a way of winning games and maybe we need to change something we are doing at the moment”. He added “whether that means going more direct or doing something different”.

• Away record – P6  W2  D1  L3  F6  A12
• No win in last two away – last win 28/08/17 vs Maidenhead
• Last away results (most recent first) – DLWWLL
• Only Solihull (13), Guiseley (17) and Torquay (18) have conceded more away than Orient (12)
• Only Woking (288) and Guiseley (303) have trailed for more minutes away than Orient 

Orient travel to Barrow on Saturday following their trip to Tranmere tomorrow and Davis hopes that a result can restart their season. “You want something to kick-start you to get you going again. If we get a good result on Wednesday or Saturday then things can change very quickly”.

• Have conceded 13 of their 22 goals in the first half of games
• Five between 1-15 minutes – have conceded a goal in this period in three of their last four games
• Six between 31-45 minutes
• Nine of their 22 have been conceded in the first 15 minutes of both halves
• 66% of their goals scored have been in the second half – including six in the final 15 minutes of games (Only Dagenham 7 scored more)

Tranmere picked up their first victory in four games on Saturday with a 1-0 away win at Bromley. Striker James Norwood snatched victory for Rovers with a strike in added time, moving Micky Mellon’s side up to 17th.

• Sit on 16 points
• League Record – P13  W4  D4  L5  F9  A9
• Form in last six – W2  D1  L3  F2  A3
• Only been five goals in their last six games

Mellon was delighted with the attitude of his side at Bromley on Saturday. Speaking to tranmererovers.co.uk “it was always going to be difficult for a number of reasons but we were determined as a group not to give anything away.

• Only scored once in their last three games
• Four of their five losses been by just one goal
• Only conceded two or more goals in two of their 13 games

Tranmere have enjoyed a sticky start to the National League this season, winning just three of their opening 12 matches but Mellon is hoping the result kick-starts them into action. “We know we have got to kick on from this, we have learnt from this about digging in. We have no massive superstars, it is a group of honest boys who did the basics right and hope for a bit of magic from people like Norwood to win the game”.

• Home record – P6  W2  D1  L3  F6  A6
• One win in their last five home games – W1  D1  L3
• Last win, 1-0 vs Barrow, 9/9/17
• Last home results (most recent first) – LWLDLW
• Only Torquay (4) have scored less at home 

Mellon highlighted that his side stuck exactly to his game plan which he outlined earlier in the week, “we spoke about doing the basics right and not coming off the plan. Even though it is not pretty, back four stuck together with the midfielders in front and the strikers ran their socks off” He added “We wanted to pass a bit more but the game wasn’t like that, I don’t think we gave any chance and we always had belief that something may fall for us”.

• Kept six clean sheets this season – only one at home
• Only Macclesfield (7) and Wrexham (7) kept more
• Kept three in their last five games
• Only kept one clean sheet in their last nine home league games
• Only Wrexham (7) and Dover (8) have conceded less this season 

Goal-scorer Norwood, was quick to point out that the result came from discipline shown in defence. Speaking to tranmererovers.co.uk “luckily the chance game right at the death and I managed to stick it away. We were only in the position to win the game as we’ve kept it so tight at the back”

• Failed to score in eight of the 13 matches
• Joint most with Guiseley in National League
• Failed to score in three of their last four games
• Norwood’s goal was their first for 360 minutes

Rovers haven’t hit the form that saw them lose out in the play-offs last season but despite the win Norwood is quick to put it into perspective, “We take every game as it comes, we haven’t had a good start but we are only nine points off the top” With back to back home games, Norwood main aim is “to chip away at the nine points, then we will see where we are. We can’t look any further away than Wednesday”.

• Only side in National League not to conceded in first 30 minutes of any game
• Their last 2-0 wins have both come with goals in added time

It was only three years ago, Tranmere vs Orient was a Football League fixture but Mellon was quick to note that that was in the past, “Tranmere are in non league, Orient are in non league, it is about today. We want to try and change it but the past is no good to us now, we have to keep improving and moving forward”.

• Five of their nine goals scored have come in last 15 minutes of matches 
• 50% of their home goals scored in this period 
• Have gained seven points in last 15 minutes of matches
• 44% of goals in Tranmere games been in last 15 minutes – highest percentage in league

Even after going close last season, Mellon put Tranmere’s situation into perspective, “they know we have a tough job, we need to make sure we put a team together to move up this division. It is going to take time and results and understanding the situation. Hopefully we can move towards a team than we all want to see”.

• Only Ebbsfleet (125) have led for less minutes than Tranmere (143)
• Only led for 72 minutes at home this season – least amount of time in National League

Team News

Leyton Orient will still be without long term absentees Charlie Lee, George Elokobi and Josh Coulson. Joe Widdowson remains a doubt after missing Saturday’s home defeat with injury. Mark Ellis looks set to continue alongside Dan Happe at centre half with James Brophy to continue at left back. Matt Harrold will be pushing for a start in attack after returning from injury on Saturday.

Tranmere can welcome back winger Ben Tollitt who has missed the last seven months through injury. Jay McEveley is back in contention after missing the last two games while striker Andy Cook returns after serving a one game suspension at Bromley. Winger Dylan Mottle-Henry joined on loan from Barnsley on Monday and is eligible to play tomorrow.

Head to Head – Leyton Orient 15, Draw 7, Tranmere Rovers 16

Last meeting – 26/04/14 – Leyton Orient 2-0 Tranmere Rovers

• Orient have won the last three meetings
• They have scored two or more goals in all three games
• Tranmere’s last victory over Orient – 18/08/12 – Tranmere 3-1 Orient
• Both teams have only scored in two of the last seven meetings
• Tranmere and Orient have two wins each from last four meetings at Prenton Park
• Last 0-0 draw, 07/02/09

Prediction – Tranmere 1-1 Leyton Orient