Orient midfielder ready to play his role

Jobi McAnuff says Leyton Orient players need to do whatever it takes to ensure their survival in League One this season.

Jamaican international McAnuff came off the bench to help O’s battle back from 3-1 down to take a point against Gillingham on Bank Holiday Monday, as Josh Wright levelled five minutes from time.

And the 33-year-old says everyone must do what is asked of them to the best of their ability as they battle to avoid the drop.

He said: “It’s just about everyone playing their role from now until the end of the season.

“We’ve got to put any personal things to the side and just play whatever role the gaffer’s asking between now and the end of the season and make sure that we stay up.

“He picks the best team that he thinks is going to go and get a result and whatever your role is you’ve just got to go and do it to the best of your ability.”

McAnuff had started in the 1-0 win at Coventry following his return from international duty, after Dean Cox picked up a slight injury in the warm-up.

But Liverani made five changes for the visit of the Gills and Lloyd James opened the scoring from the penalty spot on his first start in six months.

Jermaine McGlashan replied soon after and Cody McDonald netted either side of the break to put the visitors 3-1 up and seemingly on the way to the points.

But O’s dug deep and Darius Henderson gave them hope midway through the second half, before Wright followed his match-winning effort at Coventry with another vital strike.

McAnuff added: “They’re a bit like the busses for him! He didn’t get one at all and then two in a couple of games now.

“It’s great to see him getting a goal and he’s a very important player for us. He took a whack before that, leading up to Hendo’s goal so it was good character from him to get up and crack on.

“You’re going to get days where things don’t go right for you but you’ve got to have that determination to somehow get something from the games, particularly at this time of the season where every point is massive and it was good to do that.

“At 3-1 down with whatever there was left to play I think anyone would take a point there but from our point of view we carried on and maybe could’ve nicked it.”

Liverani was concerned to see his side concede three times in one afternoon, having only allowed two goals in their previous five outings.

And McAnuff agreed they need to tighten up for the final six matches of the season, starting with Saturday’s trip to fellow strugglers Crewe.

He said: “We’ve looked a lot more solid recently as a team and there’s no individual blame, but it’s something we’ve obviously got to look at and make sure we’re a lot harder to score against between now and the end of the season.

“Teams in and around us, they’re going to be key for us between now and the end of the season. We had a good win up at Coventry, but lost to Crawley which was a big blow for us.

“But we’ve recovered that well. We got a point and a bit more momentum to take into Saturday which is obviously a massive game and we’re going up there to win the game.”