Pre-season friendly: Concord Rangers 2 Leyton Orient 3

Macauley Bonne bagged a brace to ensure Leyton Orient come from two goals down to defeat Concord Rangers 3-2 at Thames Road.

Justin Edinburgh would have been pleased to see his side fight back and for substitute Josh Koroma to come off the bench and impress again.

There were plenty of positives for Beach Boys manager and former O’s midfielder Sammy Moore to take, however, with his team giving a more than respectable account of themselves and they will no doubt do well in the National League South.

Boss Edinburgh partnered Bonne and James Alabi up front together for the first time while a young back four was named.

Myles Judd, Marvin Ekpiteta, Dan Happe and Sam Ling made up the defence with Dean Brill in goal.

Further forward, James Dayton, Alex Lawless, Charlie Lee and James Brophy were the midfield four.

Concord manager Sammy Moore named a strong team with ex-Orient duo Frazer Shaw and Aron Pollock involved from the off.

Former Football League players Sam Beasant, Lee Minshull, Danny Green, Billy Knott and Jack Midson also started at Thames Road.

The sun was shining on Canvey Island as the Beach Boys got proceedings underway and it didn’t take long for the deadlock to be broken.

Moore’s team attacked with pace and Knott, previously of Lincoln City, was allowed too much space and lobbed Brill from around 25-yards.

It was a superb start for the hosts, but Orient nearly levelled when Brophy drove forward with purpose and passed into Alabi’s path.

Just as the forward was about to take a shot inside the area, Tyrone Sterling come across to clear the danger.

O’s continued to press and Lawless saw a poked effort take a deflection and go wide in the 10th minute before Bonne headed the resulting corner wide.

After a good response from Orient, Concord looked to hit back and forced a corner in the 13th minute following more dangerous play down the right-side.

Green and Hayes combined from the set-piece and the latter crossed into the area and caught the visitors napping as Nana Boakye-Yiadom headed in after beating Brill to the cross.

It was a below-par opening quarter of an hour from Edinburgh’s team and he would have expected a strong reaction like he saw from Orient when they trailed Benfica B earlier this month.

The next 15 minutes went by without much to note until O’s created a good chance in the 29th minute.

Moments after some needle between Bonne and Minshull, Lee headed the ball forward and Bonne controlled, cut inside Minshull, but fired just wide.

It was an encouraging piece of play and suggested Orient had finally got into their groove at Thames Road and with 31 played, they showed they had.

After moving the ball around well, Brophy played in Bonne and despite the angle being tight, he fired past Beasant to reduce the arrears.

Four minutes before half time O’s threatened again when Lawless knocked the ball back into the area following a Dayton free kick.

Bonne and Lee were both free and it was the midfielder who headed goalwards, but unfortunately straight at Beasant.

Orient continued to press and Brophy had an effort deflected away from goal by one-time defender Pollock before the half time whistle followed.

Edinburgh would have been disappointed with the way O’s started the friendly, but did hit back eventually.

A change was made at the interval as Sam Sargeant replaced Brill, but the rest of the away team remained the same.

The second half continued much like the first with Concord trying to outfight Orient for every ball.

O’s were standing up to the challenge well, however, and got back on level terms in the 56th minute.

Lawless, Dayton and Judd combined neatly on the right and the full-back produced a dangerous ball to the back post.

Alabi made a nuisance of himself and the ball deflected off a Concord defender and fell for Bonne to tap home.

The National League team were getting more and more on top now and Bonne and Lawless both went close before Edinburgh introduced Joe Widdowson for Ling just past the hour mark.

Another change was made in the 69th minute when Koroma came on for Dayton as O’s looked for a strong finish.

The friendly nature of the game had been pushed to the limits by both players during the game and Lee almost took it a tad too far with a late challenge on Minshull, which saw the midfielder booked.

Edinburgh made another change in the 77th minute, with Concord also bring on various substitutes in the second half, as David Mooney replaced Alabi.

Seconds after the substitution and the Beach Boys almost went back in front when Matt Neary raced through, but Ekpiteta got back superbly to slide in and thwart the danger.

Just as it seemed the game would end all square, Orient managed to find a winner with seven minutes left.

Lee’s long throw wasn’t dealt with and Koroma was free at the back post to score his sixth goal of pre-season.

The O’s saw out the rest of the match with minimum fuss to claim another victory ahead of the start of the new campaign.

Leyton Orient: Brill (Sargeant 46); Judd, Happe, Ekpiteta, Ling (Widdowson 62); Dayton (Koroma 69), Lawless, Lee, Brophy; Bonne, Alabi (Mooney 77).

Substitutes: Grainger, Elokobi, Coulson, McAnuff, Clay, Ogie.