The O’s head coach offered his views following the 1-0 loss to Maidenhead United

Justin Edinburgh conceded Leyton Orient didn’t show enough quality to get back into the National League match with Maidenhead United this afternoon.

The O’s suffered a shock one-goal loss to the Magpies with Adrian Clifton scoring the only goal of the game in the 53rd minute.

Orient players appealed for offside, but the goal was awarded and according to the boss rightly so.

Edinburgh said: “Was it offside? No, and I didn’t see any big decisions for the referee (Simon Mather).

“I thought he referred the game well. I think he did as much as he could to keep the game flowing, he added sufficient time on – eight minutes overall – so I thought he stood strong.

“We can’t look at anyone else apart from ourselves today. We have come up short and we didn’t impose ourselves how we should have in the second half.

“And when we gave the goal away, it made it an uphill task and we had a go, but we didn’t show enough quality or play the way we had set up to do all week.”

There was plenty of expectation ahead of kick-off with Jay Simpson including in the starting team and while he showed flashes, O’s struggled to get him into the game.

He had an excellent chance before half time, but fired straight at Carl Pentney and the hosts failed to create enough to earn reward.

It wasn’t until the 89th minute when they produced another genuine clear-cut opening, but Matt Harrold scooped over Craig Clay’s cross from four-yards under pressure from a Magpies defender.

“We have waited a while for Jay and we’ve secured a good player, but it doesn’t change our focus and mindset of any game we play,” Edinburgh said.

“I understand the euphoria around Jay signing, but it didn’t make it any easier or any tougher. It was a game we set out to win and after the first half showing I thought we would win, but we came up short in the second half.”

Orient have dropped to third in the table on 61 points, but with a game in hand on the current leaders Solihull Moors, who have 64 points.