Australian international admits they need to be more clinical at both ends of the pitch
Leyton Orient goalkeeper Alex Cisak admitted the 3-0 defeat to Scunthorpe United at Glanford Park on Tuesday night summed up the last few months for the club.
The O’s made the trip up north to face the Iron for an FA Cup second round replay after the two sides failed to find the net at Brisbane Road on December 5.
Like in so many others matches this season, Ian Hendon’s men were in control during the first half and created numerous opportunities to score the opener.
Bradley Pritchard hit the post after 10 minutes, Jean-Yves M’voto should have scored from a Lloyd James corner, before Mathieu Baudry had a header tipped over the crossbar by Luke Daniels.
A mistake by the Scunthorpe goalkeeper gave Ollie Palmer a chance with half an hour played, but his shot was cleared off the line by Charlie Goode.
It seemed like it would only be a matter of time before Orient scored, but they didn’t and a poor error at the back, after the break, cost the League Two side.
Jobi McAnuff’s square ball was a risk that didn’t need to be taken and Sean Clohessy’s pass back put Orient in serious trouble.
The result was Neal Bishop’s shot, which was going wide, deflecting in off M’voto and leaving Cisak with no chance.
Iron skipper Jack King added a second on the hour mark, before Hakeeb Adelakun scored the Iron’s third in stoppage time.
Cisak said: “I think it has been the story all season where we have created chances and not been clinical enough.
“You could say we have been unlucky or whatever and made mistakes to lose or draw games, but there is a lot to learn from that. We need to take our chances when they come up now.”
It is crucial the O’s do finish off the opportunities they create against Yeovil Town on Saturday.
The Glovers make the long journey to Brisbane Road for the final match before Christmas.
Although they are second bottom in the table, Darren Way has taken over as interim boss recently and the players are now looking to impress.
Therefore, Orient can expect a tricky encounter this weekend.
Cisak insists everybody will be working hard on the training ground to get things right, but that they simply need to be better in both penalty areas.
The 26-year-old could do nothing about any of the Scunthorpe goals and will hope he isn’t called upon too much at Brisbane Road.
“Obviously everyone works hard at training and you don’t want to make mistakes,” added Cisak.
“But those things just happen at times. We need to, as a team, ensure those mistakes happen less often though.
“When they do occur, hopefully at the other end of the pitch we are not making mistakes in front of goal and we are scoring because that has been the difference all season – well since the first five games.
“We need to stop the defensive mistakes and the mistakes up front because the decisions in the final third are the difference between winning and losing.”
It seems simple enough, but can Orient put that into practise this weekend against Yeovil?
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