Justin Edinburgh was pleased with his players after Leyton Orient fought back twice to earn a 2-2 draw with Southend United in their final pre-season friendly on Saturday.

Former O Jason Demetriou put the League One side in front early on thanks to a superb strike from 25-yards and the Shrimpers almost doubled their lead when Tom Hopper raced in behind Orient’s defence before forcing a good save from Dean Brill.

Macauley Bonne got Orient back on level terms from the penalty spot just three minutes after half-time, when he sent Nathan Bishop the wrong way after James Alabi had been brought down.

The O’s were handed a warning when Southend’s Stephen McLaughlin rattled the bar and the Shrimpers would re-take the lead with just over 25 minutes remaining, when Hopper nodded home from close-range.

But Alabi got Orient back on level terms for a second time when he turned Michael Turner before firing an effort into the back of the net from 20 yards.

Edinburgh was pleased with the workout and felt his team deserved a share of the spoils after their second half showing.

He told Leyton Orient’s website: “I think it was a very tough test. It took us a little while to get to grips with the speed of the game. Southend’s passing and movement were excellent at times. But we worked our way into the game and second half, I thought we were worthy of the goals that we scored.

“We’ve planned pre-season so that we finish with the toughest game and we certainly had that today. I think they’ve come with a full squad and their strongest team and we were given a really good work out.

“We certainly had to work hard without the ball, whereas most of pre-season we’ve dominated possession. But I thought we were excellent without the ball today. When we couldn’t get the press, we organised and then pressed again so there are a lot of pleasing things.

“Obviously we’ll always feel that we could have done better with the goals we conceded but you have to be complimentary to the opposition and we played a very good League One side today.”

The O’s head coach named a strong starting line-up on Saturday, but he was without in-form Josh Koroma who missed out as a precaution due to a slight groin issue.

Alabi and Bonne started up top once again for the O’s while Jobi McAnuff captained the side having been appointed as club captain late last week.

With Orient set to kick-off their National League campaign with a trip to Salford City on Saturday, Edinburgh admitted that there are still a couple of places up for grabs in the starting line-up ahead of the O’s first game.

He said: “I think there are personnel there who I know will start on Saturday. But there are one or two areas where there are places to be had. I’ve got food for thought but again, competition for places is good. Over the next few days, I’ll bed that down going forward for the start of the season.”