Former Gillingham manager looks back on 3-1 defeat to Plymouth Argyle and discusses Scott Kashket’s cameo
Leyton Orient caretaker Andy Hessenthaler was left frustrated with the mistakes his team made against Plymouth Argyle last night.
The O’s conceded just before half time when Peter Hartley wasn’t tracked from a Graham Carey free kick and volleyed past Alex Cisak.
It was a similar story after the break too with another Carey set piece enabling the unmarked Jake Jervis to head into the corner.
Although Lloyd James pulled one back from the penalty spot with seven minutes left, the visitors added a third in additional time.
Once again it was a mistake as captain Mathieu Baudry’s header back to Cisak was too weak and eventually Jervis fired into the bottom corner.
But a slight positive was 20-year-old Scott Kashket coming on in the 70th minute for his first Orient appearance since the 3-1 defeat to Exeter City on January 16.
“We had to force it a little bit because we were chasing the game. That was something we said before the match that we didn’t want - to be chasing it,” said Hessenthaler.
“Scott is a bright kid and we thought he might give us something different in terms of legs and pace. It was difficult circumstances for him to come on.
“But the second goal did really kill us. We were going for it for the third, but we could’ve stopped the goals. Alex has not had to make a save all 90 minutes.
“Neither has Plymouth’s goalkeeper so if we could have cut out the mistakes it might have been a 0-0, but it was just three mistakes from us.”
There was a sense that Orient could get back in the game after James’ spot-kick and that was only heightened when six minutes of additional time was announced.
But Baudry got caught under a difficult bouncing ball and his attempted header back to Cisak was weak. Although he got back to deflect Jamille Matt’s effort, Jervis latched onto the loose ball and rifled into the corner.
Hessenthaler added: “At 2-1, unfortunately Matty has made a decision and it was tough because that’s a very hard ball to deal with. There was not enough pace on the ball for him to head it.
“Look he’s made a mistake, but we didn’t react to the next ball. We could have got back a lot quicker, I know we were chasing the game, but the players have got to get back quicker than they did.”
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