The popular defender reflects on missing four months of the campaign and the atmosphere at Brisbane Road

George Elokobi has thanked Leyton Orient’s medical team following his successful return to playing after a lengthy absence on the sidelines.

The popular defender missed four months with a torn hamstring injury which needed surgery before he returned at Bognor Regis Town on January 13.

Elokobi had to wait another two weeks before he played at Brisbane Road, but he made up for lost time with an acrobatic volley during a 3-2 defeat to Aldershot Town.

He celebrated with head physio Ketan Patel and sports therapist Melvin Hancock on the sidelines after his goal and has praised the pair for their support in recent times.

“We’ve worked extremely hard behind the scenes to try and get me out onto the pitch on time,” said Elokobi.

“They have put in some hard work along with myself, so it was only fair I ran over to celebrate with them when I scored against Aldershot.

“It was to thank them for all the good work they have done and just a nice gesture to the medical team.”

Elokobi had made scoring a habit with the ex-Colchester United defender netting in the 4-3 win at Dover Athletic on Saturday.

Orient have now won their last two games, both on the road, but return to their E10 home this weekend for the visit of Tranmere Rovers.

Another rapturous atmosphere can be expected at Brisbane Road with Rovers usually taking a large number of fans away from home.

The O’s had their best crowd of the season against the Shots (5,728), but could beat that on Saturday.

Elokobi added: “The atmosphere for Aldershot was fantastic and this is the type of atmosphere we want to be playing in.

“We want to get more fans here to support us and we want to put in more great performances and hopefully the results at Brisbane Road can change.

“It was a great atmosphere to play in like I said and if you were a neutral it was a fantastic game to watch.

“Hopefully we can get more fans on board and carry on playing the way we have been playing and change more results into a positive.”