Hendon: Grainger did well

Brisbane Road boss reflects on 4-0 defeat to Exeter City and performance of youngster making his league debut

Leyton Orient head coach Ian Hendon praised young goalkeeper Charlie Grainger for coming back and performing well after conceding early on against Exeter City as the League Two leaders suffered a four-goal defeat at St James Park.

The O’s conceded inside the opening five minutes as Grainger clipped Tom Nichols inside the box and referee Kevin Johnson pointed to the spot.

Nichols stepped up and slotted it into the net and despite lots of pressure from the visitors, it was the Grecians who doubled their advantage before the break.

Alex Nicholls, this time, controlled the ball outside the area and fizzed an effort into the corner to leave Grainger with no chance and put Exeter two up at the break.

In the 55th minute it was 3-0 after Alan Dunne tangled with David Wheeler inside the box and Nichols dispatched the spot kick with ease.

Wheeler added gloss to the scoreline 13 minutes from time by firing into the corner, but only after Grainger had made a fine save and he pulled off another top drawer effort before that to prevent Ryan Harley getting on the scoresheet on his Orient league debut.

Hendon said: “Charlie has come out for the first one and he is enthusiastic and probably a bit hyped up for the game.

“Early on he has come out and made a bad decision, but second half he made a few good saves so fair play to him.

“We have got a young lad in goal making his debut. We know Alex Cisak’s experience and that he is a very good goalkeeper so anyone is going to miss that.

“But Charlie was unlucky today with a couple of things that happened and I honestly don’t think it was a four nil game and it flattered them slightly.”

Exeter boss Paul Tisdale insisted Orient were the best team to come to St James Park this season and believes they will finish in the top three this year.

Although Hendon was flattered to receive such praise, he was disappointed with the way his team performed in front of goal.

He felt they should have been more clinical and made more of the opportunities that they created throughout at St James Park.

“We have got beat fair and square, but with the possession we had, we didn’t create too many guilt-edge chances,” added Hendon.

“But we had the ball in their half quite a bit and I believe we have had something like 15 shots at their goal and not always hit the target obviously.

“It is nice of Paul Tisdale to say we are the best team they have played and that he would be surprised if we weren’t in the top three come the end of the season, but it is easy to say that when you have just beat someone four nil.”