Orient manager Russell Slade

But O’s chief insists his side will be ready for Charlton test

Orient boss Russell Slade insists his side will be ready for the start of the new season, despite a mixed bag of pre-season friendly results.

The O’s have been beaten by non-league teams Ebbsfleet and Dartford, but have recorded wins against Sutton United and a Wolves XI.

Orient launch their new season in less than two weeks time when they travel to The Valley for a Capital One Cup clash with Charlton, but Slade is confident his team’s match sharpness will return before then.

Slade was keen to concentrate on fitness levels during the first half of the pre-season build up and now he is working hard on fine-tuning the team’s match fitness.

“We’re only going into the sharp work over the next two weeks or so,” said Slade.

“We’ve got the base fitness now, which is good, and I feel that we’ve finished all of our games strongly.

“I just think that we need to get that sharpness now, which will give us that extra five per cent over the course of a season.

“I keep telling you it’s not about results at this stage.”

After conceding 75 league goals last season, Slade’s priority is to tighten things up and the summer captures of Nathan Clarke from Huddersfield Town and Mathieu Baudry from Bournemouth will help.

Orient look a more resilient squad this season with some big and powerful players and will benefit from having fit-again Jamie Jones in goal.

But the difficulty for Slade will be to tighten up while retaining a creative edge and having enough fire power up front.