O’s forward hails Brisbane Road faithful and expresses his delight at scoring first goal of the new era
David Mooney can see the glint back in Ada Martin’s eyes and the Leyton Orient forward knows that can only be a good thing for the club.
Martin, O’s kitman since 2009, has seen a lot during his time at Brisbane Road, but none more so than in the last three years.
Orient’s astonishing decline has seen them drop from League One into the National League, yet better times appear on the horizon.
Nigel Travis and Kent Teague now own the club, while previous favourites Martin Ling and Matt Porter have returned.
Mooney was the first signing of the new regime and he knows how important it is to see the popular O’s kitman happy.
“I just look at Ada now and I can see that glint back in his eye and when that is there I know things are good,” said the Irish striker, after scoring at Harlow Town.
“The last few years when I have spoke to him over the phone and met up with him I have seen it hasn’t been right.
“He has that little spark back now though and that filters through everyone, so if we can keep that there then hopefully we will be alright.”
Since a consortium led by life-long Orient fan Travis purchased the club on June 22 it feels like a weight has been lifted off the shoulders of everyone associated with the O’s.
The Francesco Becchetti era took its toll, but now the Brisbane Road faithful appear to be more together than ever before.
Over a thousand turned up on Saturday to watch Orient win 6-1 at Harlow Town in Steve Davis’ first match in charge.
Mooney cancelled out Junior Dadson’s opener for the Hawks before young forward Tristan Abrahams put O’s ahead at the break.
New signing Macauley Bonne showed his class in the second half with two goals, while trialist Josh Taylor caught the eye with a brace as well.
Former Southend United forward Mooney is a recent recruit, but probably knows the club better than anybody in the squad.
The striker spent four years at Brisbane Road between 2011 and 2015 and wants to help get O’s back to where they were during that period – League One.
“Having over a thousand fans for a pre-season game is unbelievable and Orient is a massive club,” said Mooney.
“Everyone that walks into the building and doesn’t know the club, the first thing I have said to them is that this is a massive club.
“We are in London and generate a lot of support and we just need to start off well because if we do that then we’ll hold the supporters.
“The good thing about the Orient fans as well is that they are knowledgeable, so they are not foolish and are not going to expect mad things, but maybe in the dressing room we will expect those things.
“We have a lot of young players, but we have a lot of talented young players, so if we can mould them the right and get off to a good start then hopefully this can be a very prosperous season.”
Mooney is looking forward to helping Orient’s talented teenagers develop and will be keen to lead from the front.
He did just that on Saturday, holding the ball up well and bringing others in to play with some silky touches.
And it felt inevitable that the Dublin-born forward would score the first goal of the new era, which he did by guiding the ball into the net after 25 minutes.
“I was delighted to score and I said to the kids in the morning I was hoping to get the first of pre-season and thankfully it happened and hopefully I can get the first of the season in a few weeks,” said Mooney.
“I am delighted to be back and I never wanted to leave in the first place, but it took a bit of time to get done over the summer.
“I was putting people off and I thought I was going to leave myself short, but thankfully the takeover happened and it came off. I am back now and I am delighted to be back.”
Mooney’s thrilled and so is every Orient fan at the moment because the family club they know and love is being built up again.
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