Defender downcast after Crawley defeat

East London Advertiser: O's midfielder Josh Wright challenges Ryan Dickson of Crawley Town (pic: Simon O'Connor)O's midfielder Josh Wright challenges Ryan Dickson of Crawley Town (pic: Simon O'Connor) (Image: Simon O"Connor/TGSPHOTO c/o 27 Plaiters Way Braintree Essex)

Leyton Orient defender Scott Cuthbert admitted he was ‘gutted’ to come away from League One relegation rivals Crawley empty-handed on Saturday.

Izale McLeod’s first-half penalty proved the difference between the two sides, after Reds keeper Lewis Price had produced superb saves to deny Chris Dagnall, Darius Henderson and Dean Cox.

And defeat left O’s still three points adrift of safety, with nine games remaining.

Cuthbert said: “It’s a massive result in terms of the league position and standings and it’s massively, massively gutting to come away from here and not have at least a point.

“We were looking at the league table before the game and we thought if we could come and get three points we could end up sitting 19th at the end of the day. And looking at the league table after it, I think Crawley are 19th, so it’s just a gutter.

“We started on top, but the wind was terrible. It was really hard to get to grips with, but I thought we dominated. We’ve had a little lapse in concentration for the penalty and it gives them something to hold on to.”

Luke O’Neill conceded the spot-kick for a foul on McLeod on 33 minutes and Cuthbert had no argument about the decision.

He added: “Luke says the boy took a touch and cut across him as good strikers do, so he’s not intentionally tried to trip him up, but it’s just a tangle of legs and I’ve got no complaints about the penalty, I thought it was a cert.

“We had the ball a lot, they sat back and like I said we gave them something to hold on to and they held onto it well. We’re massively disappointed we never tested the goalkeeper a few more times.”

Brian Jensen replaced Price for the second half and produced good late saves to thwart substitute David Mooney and Ryan Hedges.

Cuthbert was sent forward in the closing stages to bolster the attack, but O’s could not force a leveller.

He added: “The manager gave me a shout with 10 minutes to go to go up and try and win some balls in the air and flick on.

“We weren’t really doing much defending in the second half, the way they were playing so I was just doing as I was told.

“They were hungrier than us. We gave them something to hold on to and they held onto it very, very well.”

With Jobi McAnuff and Ryan Hedges receiving international call-ups for Jamaica and Wales under-21s, respectively, and Romain Vincelot out for the season with a knee injury, Fabio Liverani’s midfield options could be stretched this weekend.

But the club are seeking alternatives, with Liverani adding: “We are hoping maybe to bring in one more player in midfield because we don’t have many players there.

“But we also have to identify the players with the right quality to us and it’s not easy to do that but hopefully we will bring in one player to improve the level of the squad.”