The former Gillingham manager is confident his players will bounce back from the 1-0 loss at home to Maidenhead United

Justin Edinburgh is expecting a big reaction from his Leyton Orient side ahead of their final National League game this season away to Gateshead on Saturday.

The O’s were hoping to head to the North East with a top-half finish still a possibility, but Tuesday’s 1-0 loss at home to Maidenhead United now means they can only end up as high as 13th in the table.

To do that, Orient must avoid defeat at Gateshead on Saturday (12.30pm kick-off) and after losing frustratingly to the Magpies earlier in the week, following a Ryan Upward goal in the fifth minute, Edinburgh is keen to see an improvement from his team.

He said: “We have to have a reaction. We don’t want to go out on a whimper or with a disappointing performance, so the challenge is there for myself and the players to up our game.”

Orient’s match with Maidenhead, a couple of days after a fine 1-0 win over Wrexham, really was a case of after the Lord Mayor’s Show.

There were not many positives to take, but O’s wouldn’t have needed much motivation heading to Gateshead again this weekend.

It was against the Heed where the east Londoners suffered their biggest disappointment of the season – losing a three-goal lead in the FA Trophy quarter-final at Brisbane Road before going out 3-2 in an exciting replay.

During the previous three meetings, O’s have lost 2-0 to Gateshead (October 24), drawn 3-3 (February 24) and also been edged out in a five-goal thriller at the International Stadium on March 6.

Edinburgh is determined to stop the poor run against Steve Watson’s men this time, he added: “The performance against Maidenhead was not acceptable.

“We have one last opportunity to leave a positive mindset and performance going into the summer. The fans will demand that and expect to get it on Saturday.”

Although this current campaign is drawing to a close, O’s focus has been on the 2018/19 term for quite a while and the club are working hard to get their transfer business done early.

Loan pair Ebou Adams (Norwich City under-23s) and Dan Holman (Cheltenham Town) are high on Orient’s wishlist and Edinburgh’s confident they will get the players they want ahead of pre-season.

He said: “We would like to do our work quickly, but I know it is not always that easy. We need to sign players and move a few on, so there is work to do over the summer.”