Behind closed doors friendly: Leyton Orient 1 Bristol City 2

A Leyton Orient XI lost 2-1 to Bristol City in a behind closed doors match earlier this afternoon after conceding twice late on.

Teenager Ruel Sotiriou put the O’s ahead, but the visitors come from behind to claim the friendly win.

Justin Edinburgh used the fixture to give some fringe members of his squad minutes with Sam Sargeant in goal and Dan Happe and George Elokobi partnering each other at the heart of the Orient defence.

In the full-back positions were youngsters Shadrach Ogie and Jayden Sweeney while in midfield was Alex Lawless, Hector Kyprianou and Brendon Shabani and up top was Matt Harrold, Sotiriou and James Brophy.

Orient dominated the opening exchanges with Happe and Harrold heading wide before 18-year-old Sotiriou tested the City custodian.

The O’s continued to dictate play and Harrold saw a shot saved before Brophy fired straight at the away goalkeeper as the first half ended goalless.

At half time Harrold was replaced by a trialist and immediately the substitute caught the eye as he set up Kyprianou for a chance, but the under-18 ace failed to hit the target.

In the 68th minute Orient finally made their pressure count when Sotiriou evaded two opponents and fired into the bottom corner.

Ernold Haxhiu and Charles Clayden replaced Shabani and Lawless soon after and then City suddenly woke up.

In the 83rd minute they equalised when O’s failed to clear their lines and the follow up effort beat Sargeant to make it 1-1.

Then on the stroke of full time, Samuel Pearson let fly from range and curled into the corner to secure the Robins a 2-1 success.

Nevertheless, it was a good work out for Orient with a number of players completing 90 minutes ahead of this weekend’s National League game at home to Bromley.

Sargeant, Sotiriou and more specifically Happe, Elokobi, and Brophy all played the whole match and should benefit from this as they look to force their way into Edinburgh’s starting team.

Leyton Orient: Sargeant; Ogie, Happe, Elokobi, Sweeney; Shabani (Haxhiu 74), Kyprianou, Lawless (Clayden 78); Sotiriou, Harrold (Trialist 46), Brophy.