Brisbane Road boss discusses lack of clean sheets, their current form and the aim for the season

Leyton Orient head coach Ian Hendon would love his side to keep a long overdue clean sheet tomorrow (Saturday) when they travel to face Morecambe, but conceded the wait for a league shut out might go on.

That is because the Seasiders have scored the most goals in League Two this season and their matches are averaging over four goals per game.

On Tuesday night Morecambe won their third consecutive match with a 3-1 victory at home to Crawley Town and they have scored 11 goals during that period.

But the O’s have Jay Simpson in their ranks, the leading goalscorer in the division with 11 strikes to his name, and remain confident.

Hendon said: “You never know, the clean sheet might happen on Saturday. That is what normally happens doesn’t it!

“We were second top goalscorers before our match with Luton Town and Morecambe won at home on Tuesday so they are still up there.

“We are aware of that and we have had them watched. We’ll have to deal with them on Saturday.”

A problem in recent weeks for the O’s has been a habit of conceding cheap goals at the wrong times.

They dominated much of the first half against Luton before going behind and the same thing happened at Crawley Town too.

When they go to Morecambe this weekend, they need to cut that out and Hendon accepts they must improve defensively.

He said: “It is alright to say we are conceding goals, but it is not one person. We attack as a team and we defend as a team.

“They are certain goals that come about from anywhere on the pitch and be down to how the ball gets there in the first place.

“It is not always a mistake by one person, or the back four or even the goalkeeper for that matter. It is just a general, but defensively we have got to be better as a team.”

Orient have slipped to sixth in the table because of those sloppy goals, which have resulted in them drawing five of their past nine matches.

The east Londoners are still in a good position, however, and with a lot of football left to play their head coach is content with their place in the standings.

Hendon added: “We can say we haven’t won in so many games, but we have only lost three out of 14 in the league.

“We are in and around the play-offs, but we are looking at third place and we are not that far off. We are aiming to be at the top of the table.”

A victory this weekend would help Orient get close to the summit once again.