Leyton Orient midfielder hurt by Doncaster defeat

Leyton Orient midfielder Marvin Bartley admitted defeat against Doncaster was hard to take in midweek.

Fabio Liverani’s men slipped to a 1-0 loss at Brisbane Road to slip to 20th place, outside the League One relegation zone on goal difference only.

And Bartley felt they deserved something from the game, having had enough chances of their own.

He said: “The boys are disheartened. Our first-half play warranted at least one goal, it’s hard to take.

“You have to give credit to their goalkeeper because he’s pulled off some saves, but we’ve got to score, simple as that.

“Teams are managing to score against us and we’ve got a great goalkeeper so we’ve got to start putting the ball in the back of the net, it’s that simple.”

Andrea Dossena steered an early chance wide on his return to the starting line-up, while Darius Henderson was denied by a superb point-blank range save from former West Ham keeper Stephen Bywater.

Doncaster broke the deadlock on 55 minutes when Rob Jones headed home from a free-kick and it proved enough as Bywater kept out efforts from Shane Lowry, Josh Wright and Jay Simpson.

Bartley added: “The gaffer warned us at half time to be alert. They’ve gone and scored in the second half and we can’t pull one back.

“Conceding goals at any stage, open play or set-pieces, is a problem. I don’t know why we’re conceding from set-pieces, I wish I did know then we could put a stop to it.

“We are marking in zones, you pick up your own zone. No-one’s picking up man for man, he’s managed to get his head on the ball, but we’ve had chances to score goals so we have to keep a clean sheet in order to get something out of games. We’ve got to start scoring.”

Orient’s late search for an equaliser became somewhat one dimensional as they aimed long balls into the Doncaster box.

The tactic failed to pay off and the home crowd voiced their disapproval at the final whistle.

Bartley could understand the fans’ frustrations, adding: “Hendo won his fair share, more than his fair share. He’s obviously a threat in the air, I think he’s the best in the air in the division.

“At times you could call it a bit of desperation or panic, but we need to get the ball forward and fight for second balls.

“Unfortunately at the end one didn’t fall for Dags and Shane had a good header saved.”