After missing most of last season due to a serious knee injury, the 23-year-old is firmly back to full fitness now

Paul McCallum was taken off in the 78th minute on Saturday at Carlisle United with Leyton Orient winning 2-1 and a couple of minutes before he appeared to hold his knee in discomfort.

After the forward missed most of last season due to cruciate knee ligament damage, you could forgive everybody watching on for having a brief moment of panic.

The 23-year-old was quick to allay any fears, however, and insisted it was fine while his manager Andy Hessenthaler also confirmed it was cramp.

McCallum said: “I’m absolutely confident in my knee and I have no worries about it.

“It was the back of my hamstring so it might have looked like I held my knee, but it is fine. I’m never worried about that.”

McCallum played like a man who is fully over his long-term injury at the weekend and fired O’s ahead in the 44th minute.

Robbie Weir passed into Jordan Bowery’s path and his first time ball found his fellow forward and the end result was Orient leading 1-0.

But Charlie Wyke equalised for Carlisle just 25 seconds into the second half after tapping home Shaun Miller cross.

A stunning individual effort by Harry Cornick put the away side back in front before the Cumbrians had the final say.

Reggie Lambe got to the byline and tried to cross into the box, but Liam Kelly had slid in and stopped the ball accidently with his hand in the 86th minute.

Referee Ben Toner pointed to the spot and Danny Grainger made no mistake from 12 yards to ensure it finished level, which was a fair result on reflection.

“I didn’t really see the penalty. I just heard the crowd uproar as I was putting ice on my hamstring when it happened,” said McCallum.

“If ‘Kels’ has slide and tried to block the cross and block the goal, unfortunately it has hit him on the arm and the referee has given it. But I can’t really comment because I didn’t see the incident.”

The Orient forward has played his part in helping them pick up four points out of a possible six at Morecambe and Carlisle.

And although the ex-West Ham United striker was satisfied with that tally, the late penalty did leave them with a tinge of frustration.

McCallum: “We’ve had Morecambe last week and now Carlisle so it is good to get them out of the way.

“If you tell us before we’re going to get four points from the two games, I think everybody would be happy – the manager and the players would be happy.

“It is just the manner of the draw on Saturday, which makes us a bit upset, but we’ll put it right on Saturday.”