The O’s produced a clinical display at York Road to keep hold of second place in the National League

Justin Edinburgh was delighted to see his Leyton Orient squad respond in the best way possible to their first loss of the season.

After going down 1-0 at home to Sutton United on September 29, the O’s were given the chance to bounce back on Saturday away to Maidenhead United.

On paper it looked a difficult encounter with the Magpies in good form throughout the most of last month, but Macauley Bonne opened the scoring in the 11th minute and James Alabi made it 2-0 with half an hour played.

It ended that way at York Road and Edinburgh told the National League website: “In my time here we have always bounced back from any defeat, so I was confident in the players.

“Obviously it was the first we have had this season together as a group, but they certainly answered questions asked of them.”

Edinburgh praised the effort of his strikers with Alabi making the most of a rare start in the absence of Josh Koroma (knee).

Bonne continued his excellent form with a 10th goal of the term after heading home a cross from captain Jobi McAnuff.

Then Alabi finished calmly in the area after more good play by Orient’s influential skipper, who impressed once again in tough, wet conditions at Maidenhead.

“It was a roll up your sleeves performance because nothing was given out on the pitch,” O’s head coach said.

“Both teams competed very well and cancelled each other out with the same formations, but I thought our front two, whenever the opportunity came, looked dangerous and got us the win.”

What pleased Edinburgh a huge amount was the fact O’s produced a clinical touch in front of goal after failing to net during the loss to Sutton.

He also discussed how everyone at the club knew the hosts would be after a reaction too after losing to Salford City 3-0 last time out on September 30.

“We knew it would be a difficult encounter. Maidenhead have been very good at home, but obviously lost the previous week, so we expected a reaction from them as well,” Edinburgh said.

“I thought the players dealt with it well. There were very few chances in the game, but when they came along we were very clinical.”

The victory keeps Orient second in the table and a single point behind Salford ahead of Saturday’s clash at Hartlepool United.