The O’s full-back provides an honest assessment of Saturday’s match and reveals his determination to start keeping more clean sheets

Leyton Orient defender Jake Caprice insists the team can have no complaints about Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Hartlepool United after failing to take their chances or defend well enough from set-pieces.

Everything looked good for the O’s as they approached half time with a one-goal lead after Jobi McAnuff’s 19th-minute effort, but poor defending from a Nicky Deverdics free kick saw Jonathan Franks smash past Charlie Grainger in the first minute of additional time.

It paved the way for the Pools to go on and claim a 2-1 win in the National League and consign Orient to a third consecutive defeat.

Caprice said: “The mood at full time was one of disappointment as you can imagine because we didn’t expect to lose the game, especially given the way we played.

“But if we are not going to take our chances and defend from set-pieces then we will get punished, so that is something for us to work on moving forward.”

Before we highlight more Orient woe when it comes to setting up for free kicks and corners, the missed opportunities were the first poor part of Saturday’s match.

After McAnuff’s opener, which occurred after good play by Josh Koroma, Macauley Bonne and David Mooney, O’s failed to make the most of two excellent openings.

Firstly, Bonne could only fire against the post when Alex Lawless superbly picked him out inside the area.

The forward was unlucky to see his shot ricochet off the woodwork and away to safety when it could easily have rebounded into the net.

But the biggest wasted chance for Orient occurred in the 41st minute just before Pools equalised at Brisbane Road.

Grainger and Jamie Sendles-White remained calm at the back, despite being under pressure, and the latter found Lawless, who did brilliantly to pick out Koroma.

The teen moved the ball on to Mooney and he threaded a lovely ball into the path of Joe Widdowson, who was on the left-hand side of the penalty area.

With Bonne free at the back post and waiting for a tap-in, the full-back unfortunately couldn’t find his team-mate and only won a corner after Hartlepool cleared his centre.

It was a massive moment and would have been a sensational team goal, but O’s didn’t score from it and eventually they went on to lose 2-1.

“When you are on top you need to punish teams, so if you get two or three chances, you have to be putting at least one away,” said Caprice.

“The opposition can be galvanised when you miss an opportunity because it makes them think they have a chance, so that is something we have to improve.”

During a tense second half, Caprice was one of the rare bright lights for Orient, although he did lose Franks for the equaliser.

The ex-Woking defender did try his best to get O’s back into the contest, but to no avail and they lost for the second time at home this season.

After salvaging a draw against Eastleigh on August 26, Steve Davis’ team have now suffered two defeats out of their last three at Brisbane Road.

When asked about the role of the Orient supporters, Caprice was quick to praise their contribution already during the campaign.

He added: “I think the fans have been brilliant to be fair. Regardless of the results, they keep sticking with us and making noise.

“The Eastleigh game we easily could have lost 1-0, but they kicked us over the line and almost got us the goal really. If they can continue to stick with us the boys will be more than happy with that.”

It appears they will despite this poor run of losses in September and for Caprice, his main aim is to start getting more clean sheets.

The attack-minded right-back would also like to score for O’s in a competitive fixture, but first things first, he wants the team to keep a shut-out soon.

Caprice said: “I would love to add goals to my game as well as the assists which I have been getting this season, but I am sure it will come.

“I am also disappointed we haven’t kept more clean sheets because I am a defender first and foremost, so there is a lot for me and the team to work on.”