33-year-old praises O’s squad, away supporters at Home Park and discusses Sam Sargeant’s potential

Danny Webb hailed the togetherness of his Leyton Orient squad after their dramatic late victory at League Two promotion hopefuls Plymouth Argyle last night.

The hosts were on their way to a 2-1 success after Antoni Sarcevic and Matt Kennedy found the net at the start of the first and second half.

Gavin Massey equalised for O’s in the 88th minute – his second of the game – before Sandro Semedo struck home the winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

“In the 18-man squad there were 10 academy products which is outstanding, but don’t forget about the other eight,” said Webb.

“People like Gavin, Nicky Hunt, Liam Kelly, Tom Parkes, Callum Kennedy and Michael Collins bring so much to the table.

“And on the bench you have players that have stayed professional. You saw after we scored the winner they were all on the pitch.

“Those lads didn’t think ‘we are not going on tonight, so we are going to sulk’ because we are all in this together.”

Webb has certainly created a unity and spirit among the O’s squad and has them performing consistently now.

Even though he lost his first two games in charge, the displays against Carlisle United and Morecambe showed there was reason for optimism.

And the contribution of Massey, and the rest of his team-mates, have enabled Orient to claim four points from trips to Yeovil Town and Plymouth.

Orient took an impressive 156 supporters to Home Park last night and 151 made the journey last weekend to Somerset.

Webb added: “I gave the fans a clap again, but I would have done regardless of the results because just like Yeovil, if you drive all this way you deserve a little bit of appreciation and they were great.

“I said to the players on day one, all the fans want to see first and foremost is effort, now the players have never not given effort, but at the moment they are giving a bit more.

“They are showing their quality too because if fans see people running around a bit more, but with no quality they would get the hump and rightly so.

“But if they see the effort and the quality then they’ll be with us and they were absolutely fantastic at Plymouth.”

The celebrations from the O’s players on the pitch and on the bench showed just what Semedo’s late winner meant to everybody associated with the club.

But while Massey and Semedo took the plaudits, Sam Sargeant again proved his worth with an important save before Orient found an equaliser.

Nauris Bulvitis nearly scored in the 86th minute from a corner before O’s 19-year-old custodian managed to keep the follow up effort out.

It was a crucial moment and although Webb has been criticised for leaving out Alex Cisak recently, Sargeant hasn’t let him down.

The talented teenager has always been earmarked for a bright future and is showing exactly why right now.

Webb added: “Sam is excellent and that’s why I’m playing him. I’ve read certain things where people are questioning the decisions and asking who is making them.

“But with my upbringing and my family, there’s only one way I’m going to do this and I’ve got principles about how I do things. Every team sheet you see is one I’ve decided.

“People can believe that or they don’t have to. It doesn’t really matter because ‘Sarg’ will be an excellent goalkeeper just like Alex is and just like Charlie Grainger will be.

“Now I’m not going to say ‘Sarg’ has saved the day for us because if the other two were playing I’m sure they’d also make very good saves.

“But I do think ‘Sarg’ brings something different to the other two, like they bring something different to him. He starts off our attacks quickly and hopefully he keeps getting better and better.”