Former boss Omer Riza has praised Leyton Orient’s ‘thriving’ academy and urged the club to continue its great history of producing young players in the future.

Orient fans have seen a number of academy graduates make their debuts in recent seasons, with youngsters Josh Koroma, Dan Happe, Myles Judd and Sam Ling all featuring regularly for the club this campaign under Justin Edinburgh.

While the likes of Steven Alzate, Sandro Semedo and Tristan Abrahams all moved on last summer to progress their careers higher up the football pyramid, Orient’s academy has still enjoyed plenty of success this campaign as well, with the club’s U18s being crowned Merit League Two Champions last weekend against Plymouth Argyle.

As a result, given the vast array of talent Orient are now producing, former boss Riza believes the O’s have a bright future ahead of them.

He said: “Dan Happe got his debut under me at Cambridge United away and Josh was already involved and Myles was doing well. Some of the players who have left are doing well as well, with Sam Dalby, who I had at under 16s, Tristan Abrahams and Steven Alzate. You could keep rolling them off. There’s other players as well with Toby Stevenson who has just left and Teddy Perkins who has just signed for Burnley.

“It’s got a great history of producing players and the academy is thriving at the moment. I think it’s very strong and that should continue, as the club has always produced good young players.

“It’s in good hands I think. Hopefully Josh Koroma has turned that point now where he’s focused on getting on with his job and not letting things get to him too easily. It’s great and hopefully they will keep producing as the academy is probably one of the most important parts of that club at the moment.””

It has proven to be a transitional season for Orient back in the National League, with early promise under Steve Davis quickly fading and the former Crewe Alexandra boss was sacked back in November.

Justin Edinburgh was installed as his replacement and the former Northampton Town manager’s appointment led to an upturn in fortunes, with the O’s finishing the season in 13th thanks to a strong end to the campaign which saw them lose just two of their last eight games.

Orient had the best defensive record in the league after Edinburgh’s appointment and Riza believes the O’s are on the right path under the 48-year-old’s stewardship.

Riza said: “I think it was always going to be tough at the start because everyone was new. You had new staff, new players, new everything. For them to gel wasn’t going to happen overnight and with all due respect to Steve Davis, I like his style of play and how he likes to play football because it’s quite similar to the way I’d want to play football, and that was always going to be tough because when you’ve just got a team together, when you want to play football, that takes time.

“To play football and play through the thirds and to be possession based was always going to be difficult straight away. I don’t think he failed, but he maybe had to do a couple of things differently to get the team to a certain point before he could really implement what he wanted.

“Justin Edinburgh has come in now and I think he’s a direct style of coach. He doesn’t take risks and he likes to defend before you can attack and keep clean sheets. I think at Conference level, you have to get the basics right first and then you can build on the rest.”