Ex-Crewe Alexandra boss calls on team to lift it by 50 per cent if they want to start moving up the table

East London Advertiser: Leyton Orient's Macauley Bonne collides with Macclesfield goalkeeper Shwan Jalal, who went off with concussion (pic: Simon O'Connor).Leyton Orient's Macauley Bonne collides with Macclesfield goalkeeper Shwan Jalal, who went off with concussion (pic: Simon O'Connor). (Image: Simon O'Connor Photography)

The frustration of Steve Davis was clear after Leyton Orient’s latest defeat in the National League and he admitted his players are not performing consistently enough following their 1-0 defeat to Macclesfield Town.

Scott Wilson scored the only goal at Brisbane Road on the stroke of half time with the O’s punished for not taking their chances.

After defeating Dagenham & Redbridge in the FA Cup on Tuesday, Orient were not able to build on it and now sit 18th in the table – five points off the bottom four.

“We can’t seem to get going. We seem to show great promise and in the two games against Dagenham we did that,” said Davis.

“The (3-5-2) system worked really well and it was all good. The players adapted to it well, but against Macclesfield they didn’t and basically they are inconsistent.

“National League players are inconsistent and our lot are no different. They are good players. We know we have good players, but I don’t think they are performing anywhere near as good as they should be.

“I am looking for 50 per cent more from all of them and I think they know that. They have let me down. They have let themselves down and they have let the fans down.”

A rare positive from the game was the performance of Ruel Sotiriou after his introduction in the 69th minute.

The academy graduate looked lively and showed he can be a presence in the air too, but it couldn’t help O’s earn a point.

Davis admitted Sotiriou has jumped ahead of Josh Koroma and Sam Dalby due to his recent exploits.

“We’ll see. Ruel is in the team for a reason and that’s because he bangs goals in for fun. He has a great heart, he works hard, he fights and scraps and wants to score goals and play well,” said Orient’s head coach.

“He has great desire and he has all of the ingredients that some are missing and that’s why he has gone ahead of people like Josh Koroma and others.

“I think he deserves to be in the squad and coming on because he has got more under his shirt at the moment and if that’s a kick up the backside to Josh and others then so be it.

“We need competition and we need people to realise we want to win football matches and get this club back to where it should be.”