The O’s head coach talks about Plymouth, John Marquis and his players showing they want to be at Brisbane Road
Leyton Orient boss Ian Hendon is eager for his team to cause an upset this evening when they take on League Two leaders Plymouth Argyle.
The O’s visit Home Park off the back of an entertaining 3-2 win against York City on Saturday at Brisbane Road.
Argyle suffered a disappointing 2-1 loss at home to Exeter City at the weekend and they have been beaten in three of their past four matches.
Each of those defeats have been at Home Park and the last time Plymouth tasted success was against York on November 14 as they earned a 2-1 win away from home.
Hendon said: “We went to watch Plymouth when they played York last week and they are an organised side, tough to break down.
“That match was a little bit similar to our game on Saturday. Plymouth were in control of that encounter in the first half.
“And then second half York got back into it so it was very similar to our game. We will go to Plymouth with confidence and try to upset the league leaders.”
Somebody looking to make his mark against Argyle will be John Marquis after playing a key role during the win over York on Saturday.
The 23-year-old dribbled past three players to set up Jay Simpson’s opening goal and Hendon praised the Millwall loanee after the match.
It had been speculated that the attacker could be recalled to the Den, with the Lions suffering an injury crisis, but Orient don’t want to lose the forward any time soon.
“John hasn’t had the rub of the green and hasn’t scored as many goals as we would have liked,” added Hendon.
“But in fairness to him we have not really played him up in a two alongside someone. He is doing a job for the team and against York he was my man of the match.
“He worked his socks off and only come off because he had a bit of a tight calf and that shows how hard he worked.”
The Orient head coach went on to praise the rest of his players for showing their desire and commitment from the first whistle at the weekend.
Jack Payne hit the crossbar inside 19 seconds and the O’s will hope to start strongly again this evening at Plymouth.
Hendon said: “I am talking about John working hard and it was a great run for the goal, but the whole team gave us everything on Saturday.
“You see from the first minute they want to be at this football club and play for this football club. They want to play for me and the rest of the staff here so all in all it is a very good, positive result.”
Another one this evening at the league leaders and the talk of the Marriott Hotel will quickly go away.
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