Ross Embleton felt that Leyton Orient gave a performance deserving of all three points in their goalless League Two draw against Stevenage on Saturday.

The O’s found visiting keeper Paul Farman in fine form to keep them out, with his double save to deny Conor Wilkinson and then Lee Angol the pick of the bunch.

Orient were also thankful to their keeper Dean Brill though, whose save from Danny Newton with the last kick of the game preserved the point.

After the game, Embleton said: “I 100% felt that we performed to a level today that warranted and deserved the three points. There’s not many other ways of describing it if I’m honest. We got balls into the box, we had some good attempts on goal, albeit some of them never actually reached the goalkeeper because of the blocks that the Stevenage players made, so we do feel a little bit hard done by.

“I think at the same time, I just said to the lads in there, with the week that we’ve had, or the last two games that we’ve had, people maybe would have questioned how defensively strong we were, but we kept a clean sheet today and then at the other end we’ve excited and created a little bit more than we have done in the last couple.

“I feel like we’ve built on the last few games, certainly. I’m delighted with the performance but also very frustrated at not winning the game.”

Stevenage thought they had been given a golden chance to take the lead when the referee pointed to the spot for a foul by Dan Happe, but Orient were let off the hook when the decision was reversed and a corner given instead.

While the boss was happy that it wasn’t something his side had to deal with, he also praised the officials for their communication and noted the step up in quality of the officiating from the National League.

He said: “It was a bit strange because I thought the referee gave a corner, then changed his mind, then the assistant changed it again for him but at half-time when their manager was discussing it with him the point that I got from it was that he had given the penalty but because of the position of the assistant he then said that it wasn’t.

“It’s obviously fantastic from our point of view because therefore it means it wasn’t a penalty. I’ve seen it back and I don’t think it was. And then also what it shows is that element of communication is there with the officials.

“We had one, nowhere near the box but a foul in the second half, that we felt we deserved and the assistant explained to me that the referee had thought it was a foul but the assistant had made the decision. I think for us it’s a step up in terms of the quality of the way the match officials were working.”

It’s now a quick turnaround for the O’s as they make the trip up to Mansfield Town tomorrow night. The Stags have started with two draws and a win in the league, scoring two goals in every game, thus presenting a difficult task for Embleton’s side.

He said: “I understand they got a result today. They’re a good team, big budget and big club in the league. We know that it’s going to be tough but today was tough. Stevenage have shown us a different challenge to what Plymouth showed us the other night and it will be different again on Tuesday.

“Physically, it’s taken it out of the boys as we’re on the road again but it’s not going to let up and neither do we want it to. We want to keep going and I’m pleased today. I said to the boys today that lets hold onto this frustration because in some ways it felt like a defeat and I’m sure if we put in performances like that we’ll turn them into wins.”