The O’s lost a five-goal thriller with Aldershot Town on Saturday and visit Halifax Town on Tuesday determined to return to winning ways
Leyton Orient head coach Justin Edinburgh believes the performances of his team will begin to improve again now they have got back into the groove.
The O’s lost 3-2 at home to second-placed Aldershot Town on Saturday in the National League – their first game for two weeks.
Orient were last in action before the weekend at Bognor Regis Town on January 13, but the likes of Josh Coulson, Dan Happe, Alex Lawless, James Dayton and Dan Holman either didn’t play or only came on as a substitute.
It meant a lot of the starting XI on Saturday hadn’t played competitive football for three weeks and although Edinburgh refused to use it as an excuse, he expects the O’s to show a better level of performance at Halifax Town on Tuesday night.
He said: “You always have to look at positives. Yes, you never like losing football matches and it is difficult to take given the circumstances, at home in front of our fans, but George (Elokobi) has got good minutes.
“Dan has got a full 90 minutes, so there are positives, but there is a lot of room for improvement.
“We are now back in the groove so I certainly know and expect to see our performances start to increase and pick up as we go along.”
Orient were by no means disgraced at home to Shots, who haven’t lost in the league since December 9.
But Edinburgh felt the showing from his players fell below the high standards they set during December.
He added: “I am disappointed with the result. It is 3-2 so we haven’t been run off the park or given a lesson and we have been in the game and right until the end where we had the chance, but if I think of where we got to, we just weren’t quite there.
“If you are going to win football matches on a regular basis you have got to hit them targets and hit them standards and the cobwebs are out now, so I look forward to consecutive games and getting some important results.”
Edinburgh went on to reiterate the lack of game-time for some of his players was not an excuse for the defeat, but a better defensive display will be expected at Halifax.
Orient will also look to be more clinical in front of goal at the Shay tomorrow after Macauley Bonne and Dan Holman squandered very good opportunities on Saturday.
“I won’t use it as an excuse,” said Edinburgh when asked if the break had affected his players against Aldershot.
“We competed in the game, but we weren’t quite at our best or how we have been for my time certainly over the last five to six weeks.”
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