League Two: Leyton Orient 2 Mansfield Town 2
Leyton Orient continued their unbeaten start to the new season as they clawed their way back from 2-0 down to nick a draw in injury time.
The Stags Jordan Bowery and Andy Cook gave them a commanding 2-0 lead but O’s strikers Danny Johnson and Ruel Sotiriou got themselves on the scoresheet to level things late on in their League Two home opener at Brisbane Road.
Head coach Ross Embleton opted to rotate his side once again following their 3-2 victory over Plymouth Argyle in the Carabao Cup in mid-week.
It was a slow cagey affair in the opening minutes, both side’s neither creating too much, nor domination in terms of possession with the only real chance coming from Jordan Maguire-Drew in the opening minute as he forced Marek Stech into a save from a free-kick.
In the 18th minute Ruel Sotiriou turned on his marker and fired a shot on target, but former Orient loanee Stech pushed it wide for a corner, but they failed to capitalise on the set-piece.
Mansfield had their first shot on target in the 24th minute as Harry Charsley drilled a shot from 25 yards but his effort was comfortably held by shot-stopper Lawrence Vigouroux.
Back down the other end, former West Ham goalkeeper Stech thumbled a corner coming in from Maguire-Drew, and the ball fell to midfielder Ouss Cisse.
The summer signing poked the ball forward but the Mansfield were there to recover and clear the chance in the 33rd minute.
On the stroke of halt-time the O’s had their best chance of the first-half as in-form Danny Johnson turned and fired a shot, but his effort was tipped off the outside of the post, and wide for a corner.
Early in the second-half Stech sends a long ball up the pitch and it finds its way to Andy Cook who is brought down by left-back James Brophy to win the visitors a penalty.
Up stepped former Orient striker Jordan Bowery who sent Vigoroux the wrong way and fired into the top right corner to give Mansfield a 1-0 lead in the 52nd minute.
In the 60th minute Charsley powered an effort on target which forced the O’s goalkeeper to tip the attacking midfielder’s shot over the crossbar for a corner.
Eight minutes later substitute Louis Dennis was looking for a pass but was given a clear run and decided to have a shot that ended up going just wide of the post.
The Stags then doubled their lead as Harry Charsley weaved his way into the box and laid the ball off to Andy Cook where the striker slotted home from 10 yards out in the 72nd minute.
O’s striker Danny Johnson then tucked home a rebound to make it five goals in five games for the former Gateshead man in the 82nd minute to give the hosts a life line.
Embleton’s men failed to give up and were rewarded in injury time as James Brophy took a quick throw in to Lee Angol.
The attacker then picked out left-back Brophy on the overlap, who raced into the box, and then played the ball back to Sotiriou inside the six yard box who picked out the bottom corner to level the score at 2-2.
Leyton Orient: Vigouroux, Ling, Coulson, Happe, Brophy, Cisse (Angol 76), Clay (McAnuff 62), Dayton, Maguire-Drew (Dennis 62), Sotiriou, Johnson.
Unused subs: Sargeant, Widdowson, Thomas, Wilkinson.
Mansfield Town: Stech, O’Keefe, Sweeney, Rawson, Menayese, Benning, Maris, Clarke, Charsley, Bowery, Cook (Maynard 89).
Unused subs: Stone, Sinclair, Perch, O’Driscoll, Reid, McLaughlin.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here