Leyton Orient boss Fabio Liverani believes his players were weak and lost their confidence after falling behind at Rochdale as their hopes of avoiding relegation suffered another major blow.

The O's no longer have their fate in their own hands and are fourth bottom in League One with just two games remaining after losing 1-0 at Rochdale.

The winning goal came through Ian Henderson after 66 minutes but Orient's response was non existent and if anything the visitors were fortunate not to lose by more.

Liverani, speaking via a translator, said: “The second half was quite balanced and an even game until they got their goal. After that, I think we went down and lost the confidence and the mind to play in a proper way until the end of the game.

“I think the second half has to be split until the goal and after it. Until the goal we didn’t concede chances to them and after the goal we lost our confidence, composure and shape on the pitch. I think players in the situation are weak so couldn’t keep their confidence up and we were in confusion in the last 20 minutes."

Orient are now two points off safety and their remaining matches are at home to play-off bound Sheffield United and at Swindon Town on the final day.

Liverani insists his team, who are without a win in five games, are capable of achieving victories despite their lack of consistency throughout his tenure.

He said: “I think this team has the quality to win both the games. We are used to matches with periods of lows and periods of highs.

"There have been good performances after bad and bad ones after good performances. I have to say it’s quite unpredictable but we have the quality to win both matches but we will see."