Ross Embleton felt that Leyton Orient’s victory over Mansfield Town on Tuesday night was deserved after falling short against Macclesfield Town at the weekend.

The O’s edged further away from the group at the bottom of League Two with a 2-1 win while plunging their opponents further into the mix through goals from James Dayton and a Mal Benning own goal.

Orient had been hit by a sucker punch on Saturday when Jacob Blyth equalised for Macclesfield in stoppage time, but there was to be no such problem here as they held out in the final moments with relative ease.

Speaking after the game, Embleton said: “I felt we did [deserve the win], without it being a ‘blow you away’ type of performance. We had a lot of control on the game again and I think the difference today in comparison to Saturday was the hairy-ish moments we had in and around our own box, we saw them through.”

There were several standout performers for the O’s, and although he was not able to get on the scoresheet, Conor Wilkinson was one that Embleton reserved particular praise for following some brilliant solo runs against the Mansfield defence.

He said: “When Conor gets the ball one-v-one, for a lad of his size, good feet for a big man and all that sort of stuff, he can dribble with the ball like not many people of his stature can.

“He got himself some really good opportunities today, especially in the second half when we managed to get the ball to him a little bit quicker.”

Embleton also singled out goal-scorer Dayton, who came back into the side following his suspension for the red card he received against Northampton Town.

His goal got the O’s rolling in the game and the boss praised the patience that he has shown in waiting for his chance.

He said: “I think we always see the best of Dayts when he has two or three games under his belt. I think he’d be the first to admit that and I think it’s really important that we can continue to have that mindset on him, which is why we brought him off when we did.

“He had a good 90 minutes in the reserves this time last week and despite the fact that he was suspended we felt that he was more than ready to step in.

“I think the previous game where he came on here, I thought he performed well in that and he deserved his opportunity today.”