Ruel Sotiriou missed the deciding penalty as Leyton Orient were knocked out of the Leasing.com Trophy at the second-round stage by League One side Bristol Rovers on penalties.

Lee Angol equalised from Alfie Kilgour’s opener to seal a 1-1 draw in normal time, but both Sotiriou and Josh Wright were guilty of missing from the spot in the shoot-out, while the hosts scored all four of their kicks.

Interim head coach Ross Embleton named a strong side for the game, with Joe Widdowson donning the captain’s armband while there were returns to the line-up for Conor Wilkinson, Sam Sargeant, Jordan Maguire-Drew, George Marsh and Hector Kyprianou.

Both teams made a tentative start to the game as they tried to suss each other out, but it was Rovers who made the first attempt as Jonson Clarke-Harris’ dipping volley went just over the bar.

Orient felt they should have been awarded a penalty on 15 minutes when Wilkinson raced through and went over in the box, but referee David Rock saw it different and instead booked the forward for simulation.

Just a minute later, the Pirates took the lead when a free kick from the right was whipped into the box and bounced past Sargeant off Kilgour.

However, Orient responded brilliantly and were level within four minutes as Maguire-Drew worked his way into the box and delivered an excellent ball to the back post for Lee Angol to tuck home.

Maguire-Drew was causing all sorts of problems for the hosts and his trickery down the right almost created a second when Tony Craig’s clearance ricocheted off Kilgour, but it bounced just inches wide of the post.

Rovers started to show their divisional superiority after the half-time break, and they had a series of good opportunities to regain the lead around the hour mark.

Clarke-Harris stung the palms of Sargeant and Lucas Tomlinson fired over from a good position from the rebound, and the latter also planted a header wide when he got on the end of a good-looking cross.

Ollie Clarke came the closest to winning the game in normal time for the hosts, flashing an effort just wide of Sargeant’s post in the 87th minute.

With a draw confirmed, penalties were set to decide who advanced to the next round. Clarke-Harris got Rovers off the mark before Wright saw his effort kept out by Jordi van Stappershoef.

Matt Harrold and George Marsh then converted for the visitors, as did Alex Rodman and Craig and Liam Sercombe for Rovers. That left youngster Sotiriou with the task of keeping the O’s in the competition, but van Stappershoef guessed correctly to keep him out and the League One side prevailed.

Next up for the O’s is a return to League Two action this Saturday as they make the trip to Oldham Athletic. Kick-off is at 3pm.

Orient team: Sargeant, Ling, Widdowson, Ekpiteta, Wilkinson (Sotiriou, 60), Maguire-Drew (Dayton, 82), Angol (Harrold, 73), Marsh, Turley, Kyprianou, Wright

Subs: Brill, Gorman, Happe, Dennis