Craig Clay felt that Leyton Orient's performance against Newport County was a continuation of their second-half display against Northampton Town.

The O's put in an excellent shift that saw them rewarded with their first win in over a month and just their second since October.

Clay himself put in an excellent performance in the middle alongside Josh Wright and Ouss Cisse, but he felt it was the team performance that got them over the line.

He said: “It’s nice to get that first win in a while. I think we deserved it today. Instead of waiting for them to come at us and for us to have a go in the second half, we got on there from the off and thoroughly deserved the three points.

“We know the first half wasn’t good enough on Tuesday night. I think we got sucked into their game and it was just getting lumped forward and back. In the second half, we showed what we can do and I think we carried it on today from minute one.”

It was the second game running that Clay has started alongside Cisse, a loan signing from Gillingham earlier in this window, and he feels that he brings a different edge to the team.

He said: “He’s a top lad. You can tell what quality he’s got. I think he’s happy to sit just in front of the back four which for me and Wrighty enables us to get up with play.

"He’s composed on the ball as well. He’s not one of those who sits just in front, scraps and then booms it, he’s composed and plays it well and settles it down for us.”

Next up for Orient is a trip to Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday night, and Clay says that the two recent displays are something the side must build on in that game.

He said: “We don’t want to get carried away after one win. We want to build on it now. It’s going to be a tough game, we’re not saying it’s not going to be, they’re obviously doing okay, but hopefully now this brings us that bit of confidence we’ve been needing, that little edge to us so I’m looking forward to Tuesday night.”