Young forward is in the form of his life and Steve Davis also provides an update on the fitness of first-team skipper Charlie Lee
Leyton Orient head coach Steve Davis believes Macauley Bonne deserves his success in front of goal due to the hard work he puts in.
The 21-year-old netted a hat-trick on Saturday to help O’s defeat Guiseley 4-1 at home in the National League.
It took Bonne’s tally for the campaign to seven and despite a slow start to the season, he is on fire now!
Davis said: “Forwards only get confidence through scoring and ‘Macca’ is buzzing at the moment with the goals he’s scoring.
“He found the net in pre-season as well and it was a surprise when he didn’t score in the early games because his strength is in and around the area, so I am really pleased for him.
“I felt he deserved his hat-trick on Saturday for his effort because he worked really hard and Alex (Lawless) and him usually run the most in the team every week.
“We know that as we have the GPS to prove it, so we know how hard he works to get in those opportunities and I am really happy for him.”
Before coming to Orient, Bonne had a modest record in front of goal after making his Colchester debut in October 2013.
Admittedly, the forward didn’t get many starting opportunities at the U’s and when he did, he rarely was given a regular run in the team.
But at Brisbane Road he is getting that and showed nerves of steel to net two penalties against Guiseley on his way to taking home the match ball.
“I think he is getting a run and he knows he will stay in the team if he works as hard as he has been,” said Davis.
“The added goals are a massive bonus for him, but he does get in good positions and sometimes he snatches and gets anxious if he hasn’t already scored, but on Saturday he showed great composure for the penalties.
“Putting them in the same spot takes some guts and then I was delighted for him to race clear of the two centre halves and finish really calmly for his third.”
Bonne’s treble capped an excellent day for O’s and Davis after Guiseley had taken the lead in the 36th minute through Kayode Odejayi.
The Lions weathered an early storm and were fortunate not to concede a penalty when goalkeeper Joseph Green appeared to pull back Bonne and prevent him scoring a simple tap-in.
O’s got their luck in the end, however, when David Mooney won two penalties in quick succession despite both looking soft.
After Bonne made no mistake from the spot, new signing Matt Harrold headed in a third before the ex-Colchester United striker grabbed his hat-trick eight minutes from time.
It represented a fine afternoon for Davis and he provided an update on the fitness of first-team captain Charlie Lee afterwards.
The midfielder suffered suspected anterior cruciate ligament damage to his knee in August, but still played his part on Saturday by offering young Henry Ochieng advice during his first start of the campaign.
Davis added: “Charlie has seen the consultant and is going to have an operation this month. I think it is on the 11th, so what they normally do is wait for the swelling to go down before they do the operation.
“Once the surgeon gets inside he can have a look at what the damage is, but at the moment he has no swelling.
“It was funny because on Friday Charlie wanted to do the warm-up, so it is weird he has got something wrong, but feels so good. I think that is just him as a character and as a person.
“He hates sitting in the treatment room, so I am not sure how he will deal with that, but something he has been doing is on Saturday, at half time, he was straight in there talking to Henry and helping him, so he will give us that.”
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