The winger looks ahead to facing Guiseley and Maidenhead United, planning for next season and praises Dan Holman
James Brophy insists Leyton Orient will not be taking too much notice of Guiseley’s position in the National League table and will focus on their own game plan this Good Friday.
The O’s make the trip to Yorkshire to take on the basement side and Justin Edinburgh’s team travel with plenty of confidence.
Last Saturday’s 3-0 success at home to Woking has lifted spirits again and appeared to almost kill off any chances of back-to-back relegations.
After facing the Lions on Friday, Orient host Maidenhead United on Easter Monday and two wins over the next few days would raise hopes of a top-half finish again.
Brophy said: “I think we’ve seen this season any team can beat anyone, so we can’t really judge our next opponent on where they are in the league table.
“We just need to set up how we did against Woking, stick to the game plan and hopefully we can bring back three points before we go again on Monday at home to Maidenhead.”
The winger laughed when asked if he was looking forward to the Easter period because it meant fewer training sessions over that spell.
It is essentially the same as playing on a Saturday afternoon and then again on a Tuesday night, give or take a few hours, and Brophy is excited about the next two games.
He added: “Every player will say the same thing, we just want the next game to come around fast.
“Playing on Friday suits us. Friday, Saturday or Monday, Tuesday – it is all the same. We just want the next one to come around.”
O’s are not 100 per cent safe just yet, but the mood around Brisbane Road has quickly improved after a difficult four weeks.
A victory at Guiseley will take the east Londoners onto 50 points and in most seasons over the last decade, that has been enough to avoid the National League bottom four.
Edinburgh and his players are not looking at such targets though, they just want to build momentum, Brophy said: “We want to lay the foundations for next season.
“We need to finish this year on a high with a good run of results and that will lay the foundations for pre-season and to really put a challenge together for next year.
“I think this season has been a season of transition with the new owners coming in and a much-changed squad, but we need to finish strongly and have a real insight into how we want to play next year.”
One player who could be playing for his future right now is Dan Holman with the loanee out of contract with Cheltenham Town in the summer.
When the 27-year-old joined the O’s in January, it was always expected to be with a view to signing permanently ahead of the 2018/19 season.
Holman has yet to show his true quality in front of goal, but his overall play has not gone unnoticed and he made a huge impact during the 3-0 win over Woking and came close to score late on, but lobbed wide of Nathan Baxter’s goal.
Team-mate Brophy added: “Dan was definitely unlucky (not to score). It was obviously unfortunate for Matt (Harrold) to come off so early, but we have got plenty of options now, so when someone does come off, someone else can come in and do the job.
“I thought the amount of running Dan did was incredible. Him and ‘Macca’ (Macauley Bonne) up top did a lot of running for the team and held back their back four.
“At the end I thought Dan deserved a bit of luck with his chance, but unfortunately he didn’t get it.”
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