The popular centre back, who scored his eighth goal of the season on Friday, looked ahead to Monday’s huge game at Solihull Moors
Leyton Orient defender Josh Coulson paid tribute to Jobi McAnuff following Friday’s 2-0 win over Harrogate Town.
The 30-year-old scored the opening goal of the game after heading home a cross from O’s captain McAnuff.
It was the perfect start for Justin Edinburgh’s team - with two minutes on the clock – and helped them secure another vital victory which keeps them two points clear at the top of the National League with only two matches to go.
“Jobi is massive with his leadership and he calms us down and everything about him is great. He is a brilliant leader and huge for us,” Coulson said.
“We have said at home we have to give the fans something to cheer about and the aim was to get out of the traps fast. We say every week in the warm-up let’s do that and it was good to apply it and get the early goal and put us in the driving seat.”
After Coulson’s fine header, Orient didn’t have it all their own way with Harrogate a real threat, especially on the break, but a mixture of bad finishing and good defending ensured Dean Brill’s net was not breached.
Then Matt Harrold added the icing on the cake in stoppage time with a header from James Brophy’s corner to net his seventh goal of the campaign.
Unfortunately for O’s at a similar time, title rivals Salford City grabbed a late winner at Boreham Wood to remain close to the leaders.
Coulson admitted: “Of course you look at the fixtures and try to figure stuff out and again we have seen Salford score late and we just have to concentrate on ourselves and we go into every game trying to win.
“We expected Salford to beat Boreham Wood. I guess you could say they were a bit lucky, but we have scored our fair share of late goals.
“They probably have felt the same about us, but we have said the whole time let’s concentrate on ourselves, get the win and just carry on.”
After the events on Good Friday, Orient will travel to third-placed Solihull Moors on Monday with a slight cushion at the top.
Salford City have promotion hopefuls AFC Fylde on the same afternoon and if they were to drop points and O’s were to win in West Midlands, Edinburgh’s team would be crowned National League champions.
It will not be straightforward though, with Coulson well aware of how tough a game Orient will be in for against Moors.
He added: “They deserve to be third. They are a big, strong and physical side. Their players know this league and know what it takes to win.
“It will be a very tough game, but we have a couple of days to prepare right. We will prepare right and get ready to go again.”
The O’s will be backed by 700 away fans at Solihull and while they would have loved to take more, Coulson has no doubts the Orient faithful will still make lots of noise.
All season the east Londoners have been supported brilliantly on the road and despite the fairly low ticket allocation given to the leaders, they will look to take over the stadium.
Coulson concluded: “I didn’t go there last season for the gaffer’s first game because I was injured, but I know it’s quite a little ground.
“Our away following is brilliant, they are always loud and we take over stadiums. I don’t think Solihull are letting us take over as much as we could, but the supporters will be massive for us and hopefully we put on a good display for them.”
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