Brisbane Road number two looks ahead to Portsmouth and Bristol Rovers matches

East London Advertiser: Leyton Orient's Jobi McAnuff lets fly from outside the area against Yeovil Town (pic: Simon O'Connor).Leyton Orient's Jobi McAnuff lets fly from outside the area against Yeovil Town (pic: Simon O'Connor). (Image: simon.oconnor@virgin.net)

The last time Leyton Orient registered back-to-back victories was in August, but assistant manager Andy Hessenthaler admits they need to achieve that soon and believes the perfect time is now during the busy Christmas period.

Ian Hendon’s men welcome Portsmouth to Brisbane Road on Boxing Day before visiting Bristol Rovers on December 28.

Both Pompey and the Gas are in the play-off positions at the moment where the O’s would like to be themselves.

Results haven’t been good enough of late, though, with too many draws over the last few months, albeit against some strong sides in the division.

On Saturday, however, Orient would have expected to beat League Two strugglers Yeovil Town, but they needed Jobi McAnuff to come off the bench to score a stunning equaliser with 16 minutes remaining.

The performance against the Glovers wasn’t good enough, especially first half, and Hessenthaler admits they need to try and be successful in both matches over the next week, no matter how difficult they look on paper.

He said: “We have got to get back-to-back wins from somewhere and let’s hope that is Portsmouth and Bristol Rovers.

“Are we capable of doing that? Yes we have proved we are capable of doing it, but on the showing we put in on Saturday, we need a shake-up.

“We need to get them together, work on the training ground and ultimately get them out there and running around for us because first half they didn’t.”

Orient looked incredibly nervous on Saturday against Yeovil and lacked urgency through the first period, something not normally seen with Hendon’s side.

While they haven’t won too many games over the past few months, his teams always play with purpose and tend to create numerous opportunities.

Unfortunately that didn’t happen last weekend and the O’s number two admits they can’t keep relying on individuals.

While Orient’s performance was uncharacteristic, the individual errors that occurred for Yeovil’s goal wasn’t anything new.

Individual errors have cost them a lot recently and it proved the case again on Saturday as Francois Zoko scored following a string of errors by the O’s, like they did last week against Scunthorpe when they lost 3-0 at Glanford Park.

“We did look nervous. Whether that is because we are desperate for that winning run we need – I think it looked like that,” admitted Hessenthaler after the match.

“I thought we looked lethargic, I thought the back five looked lethargic and we didn’t play with any real tempo. I have not seen that this season.

“We have always started games well and we even mentioned it in the warm-up because I wasn’t happy with that – they looked a little bit off it.

“Alright we have had a game midweek, which was a toughie at Scunthorpe, but we have got to overcome that as a group of players once they cross that white line.

“We need leaders out there, we can’t just keep relying on certain individuals and can’t keep relying on Jobi McAnuff to come on and change a game.

“They have got to stand up to be counted when they go out there. We as a coaching side pick the team and put them out there and we expect them to work hard. First half they never did that.”