Ex-Chesterfield boss admits O’s might have had first half penalty, but was thrilled with his players showing at Brisbane Road

Paul Cook felt Portsmouth delivered one of their best performances of the season to win 1-0 at Leyton Orient on Saturday in League Two.

Christian Burgess scored the only goal of the game in the 57th minute, but the visitors might have won by more.

The O’s under Alberto Cavasin struggled to create chances at Brisbane Road and Pompey thoroughly deserved the three points.

Cook said: “I think we should score again in the last 10 minutes and we’re disappointed because I now feel Orient are there to be beat.

“I’m not being critical of Orient but we had a couple of breakaways and we’ve got to be more clinical.

“But there you go I’m not going to be critical of the lads because they’ve worked ever so hard. It was fantastic travelling support again and the fans are an absolute credit to the club and we’ll keep working hard to make them happy.

“People say you are coming into tough fixtures with Doncaster Rovers and Orient, but Saturday was one of our best performances of the season.

“It is not about the opposition for us it is how we play as a team and if we play as a team and it is not good enough then so be it.”

The Portsmouth boss discussed the two penalty appeals both sides had during the first 45 at Brisbane Road.

Yvan Erichot was pulled down in the 12th minute when it looked like he was about to score, but referee Christopher Sarginson waved play on.

But 17 minutes later the man in the middle did make a decision when Pompey’s Kyle Bennett went down inside the O’s area.

Sarginson decided to book the winger for diving after Gavin Massey was adjudged to have not made contact with the Portsmouth player.

“You just want your team to go out and play the game how you want it to be played. I felt we did that,” said Cook.

“It was a typical Paul Cook team performance away from home. We were trying our best to be good in possession and dominate the ball and create chances.

“We were trying our best to restrict Orient to not many chances, albeit the two penalties might be contentious.

“My first reaction was that Orient’s was a pen and our one was soft and it will be interesting to see Conor Chaplin’s offside goal because we felt his movement was great.”