Orient boss felt his side deserved to beat the Iron and reveals extend of Alex Cisak, Sammy Moore and Jay Simpson’s injuries

Leyton Orient head coach Ian Hendon gave his backing to forward Ollie Palmer following the stalemate with Scunthorpe United in the second round of the FA Cup.

The O’s and the Iron couldn’t be separated at Brisbane Road, but the hosts had the best chances of the encounter.

Palmer might have put his team ahead in the first half when he fired wide from inside the area, but he definitely should have scored after the break.

Blair Turgott got to the byline and cut the ball back for the forward, who had the simple task of tapping into the empty net, but unfortunately he got his effort all wrong and the opportunity was gone.

Hendon said: “Yes the best chance did fall to Ollie and he is disappointed, of course he is. It was good work by Blair, he has chased a lost cause and won the ball back.

“He put a good ball in and Ollie hasn’t connected with it, the ball has hit his standing leg as he has tried to strike it. We are disappointed but it is onto the next one.

“I said to Ollie before the game he scored two in the last round of the FA Cup against Staines so maybe this is his competition. We give him as much confidence as we can, we go to Mansfield Town next week and we’ll see how we go there.”

Palmer started up front on his own with Bradley Pritchard, Turgott and Jobi McAnuff behind looking to cause Scunthorpe problems.

The latter duo in particular impressed against the League One side and it resulted in Hendon putting them out wide and sending Scott Kashket on up top.

Despite the change in formation, Orient couldn’t take the chances they created and were left to reflect on what might have been.

Hendon added: “We started 4-2-3-1 with Ollie up on his own and the lads getting in and around him, joining in before going to 4-4-2 as the game went on.

“We tried to win the match and unfortunately it just didn’t drop for us. We had some good chances towards the end and on another day they would have gone in, but that is the way it is going.”

The performance by the hosts was all the more impressive considering the list of players they were without.

Dean Cox and Paul McCallum are missing long term while Connor Essam wasn’t ready for the second round tie.

But Hendon was also without first choice goalkeeper Alex Cisak, midfielder Sammy Moore as well as top goalscorer Jay Simpson.

Cole Kpekawa was unavailable due to the terms of his loan while John Marquis was suspended, but the O’s didn’t let it deter them and they more than deserved to go through.

Hendon revealed the extend of the injuries suffering by Cisak, Moore and Simpson after the match at Brisbane Road.

“Initially we thought in the game last week against Wimbledon that Sammy had got a tibia fracture, but it has turned out that it is not that,” said the Orient boss.

“He has got bad bone bruising and he has burst a capsule in the back of his knee. We are looking at a minimum of four weeks there so sadly that was last week.

“Jay’s injury is the one he picked up at Plymouth when he got that tackle and he isn’t fully recovered. He played last week and gave his best, but this week he has had a bit of a recurrence.

“We need him for the season not just for one game. He couldn’t have played today anyway full stop, he wasn’t fit enough, but we are hopeful he will return next weekend.

“Alex has got bad bruising on his ankle and we tested both him and Jay this morning, but it wasn’t to be. That is what it was and we got on with things.

“I have got to give credit to the players that went out there because they gave a great performance today and we should have won the game.”