“We are in the conference and here for a reason.” Strong words from Orient captain David Mooney as the rapidly deteriorating O’s suffered another defeat at home to struggling Gateshead.
The O’s failed to get going in the first half and with only 9 minutes gone Jordan Burrow buried a beautifully floated cross from Luke Hannant into the back of the Orient net, leaving Brisbane Road silenced and the 63 away fans who had made the 300-mile journey down the M1 jubilant. For the rest of the first half Gateshead were content to sit back and soak up seemingly harmless Orient pressure. The only real chance of note fell to Gateshead’s Patrick McLaughlin who crashed the ball from outside the penalty area into Orient keeper Charlie Grainger’s midriff.
Orient looked lacklustre and it was only when James Dayton was brought on at half time that they posed any threat to the Geordies at all. The one real opportunity that Orient got was spurned by David Mooney just past the hour mark. He would live to regret this as in the 80th minute any hope of an Orient revival was annihilated, as a comical mix-up between Mark Ellis and goalkeeper Grainger left Burrow to slot the ball into an empty net.
In a post match interview Orient manager Steve Davis was expectedly downbeat, apologising to the fans for what had been the disappointing performance that Orient fans have come to expect over the past weeks. Orient outplayed by Gateshead and 2-0 was a fair reflection on the game, the O's' conference woes continue.
By Ben Bagley (Bancroft's School)
