Leyton Orient will look to keep hold of first place in the National League when they visit Eastleigh tonight
James Dayton is pleased Leyton Orient are leaders of the National League table, but feels the most important thing right now is to simply be in and around the top spots.
A 4-0 win over Havant & Waterlooville on Saturday, coupled with Salford City, Wrexham and Harrogate Town dropping points, saw the O’s return to first place.
Orient have not been top since the 1-0 loss at home to Sutton United on September 29 and Dayton gave an insight into the mindset of the team now they are the leaders again.
He said: “It is never too early to be top, but first or second, the main thing right now is just being up there.
“It is so cliché, but we need to take each game as it comes. If we keep getting three points and concentrating on ourselves then it will take care of itself.”
The O’s are in action again this evening and make the trip to Hampshire to face Eastleigh under the caretaker management of Ben Strevens.
Andy Hessenthaler recently left the Spitfires to join league rivals Dover Athletic, but before he departed, Eastleigh were on a fantastic run of form.
They had won four games in a row and although Strevens lost his opener at home to Aldershot Town on October 13 by a 2-1 score, they bounced back to win 1-0 at Halifax Town last weekend.
Dayton added: “Eastleigh have been on an okay run and obviously it is a tough place to go on a Tuesday night, but we go there full of confidence after this performance.”
Orient head coach Justin Edinburgh doesn’t believe Hessenthaler’s departure at the start of October will have an impact on the game at Ten Acres.
He added: “It doesn’t really change anything. The manager has been in place for a few games now, the personnel haven’t changed and they were on a very good run prior to the former manager leaving.
“I expect they will be buoyed by a very good away performance at Halifax and getting three points on the road.
“They are all big games and tough games on their own merit, so it is another tough one, but we go into it very confident.”
On Saturday, Orient produced some of their best football of the season and could have scored more than four goals.
In the end, efforts from Josh Coulson, Charlie Lee, Macauley Bonne and a first-half own-goal were enough to hand O’s the points on a cold, but pleasing day in E10.
Dayton said: “It was a big win and we wanted to put things after the goalless draw with Hartlepool United, even if we did perform well and we were down to 10-men, so the four goals were very good.
“We wanted to come out of the blocks sharp and hit Havant hard pretty much and I felt we did that with the early goal and we kept our foot on the pedal and kept going.
“I think we ooze confidence anyway, but with a few goals behind us it only brings even more confidence and we played on that.”
Orient will look for a repeat this evening at Eastleigh if they are to end the night still in top spot in the National League table.
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