Brisbane Road outfit finally get their man after failing to bring in forward last week

East London Advertiser: Leyton Orient head coach Ian Hendon (pic: Simon O'Connor).Leyton Orient head coach Ian Hendon (pic: Simon O'Connor). (Image: Simon O'Connor Photography)

Leyton Orient head coach Ian Hendon has got his man after the club confirmed the loan signing of Millwall forward John Marquis.

The 23-year-old has moved to Brisbane Road on a 93-day deal and is available for this weekend’s League Two clash at Crawley Town.

He comes with good pedigree after scoring eight times during a spell at Gillingham last season, where O’s assistant manager Andy Hessenthaler was number two at the time, and will hope to hit the ground running for the east Londoners.

Marquis has made six appearances for Millwall this season, but only two of them have been starts for the Lions and he has left in search of regular first-team football.

It seems Hendon has been chasing the forward for a while as he revealed after Saturday’s 3-1 win against Notts County that he had been trying to bring an attacking player in, but the parent club stopped the move going through.

Millwall manager Neil Harris commented on October 1, two days before the O’s boss revealed that news, that Marquis was not set to leave on-loan because of their hectic fixture schedule.

“John has been very patient. He wants to be involved and play a part in what we are doing as a squad,” Harris told South London Press.

“But he is not on his way to Leyton Orient. We are half way through four games in a period of 10 days and our squad will be utilised to the maximum during that time.

“As far as I am concerned, everyone is available and wants to play for this club and that is certainly the case with John.”

But Orient have now got their man and Marquis provides much needed experience up front with Scott Kashket the only previous back-up to Jay Simpson and Ollie Palmer.

He impressed for Gillingham last season and has also had spells at Cheltenham Town, Northampton Town, Torquay United and Portsmouth in the past.

The match fitness of the forward may be something of a concern for Hendon, however, as Marquis hasn’t represented Millwall since September 26 and that was only a 14-minute cameo.

It remains to be seen whether he will start at Broadfield Stadium tomorrow (Saturday), but his addition is definitely a welcome boost for the O’s after Paul McCallum suffered cruciate ligament damage recently and it was confirmed he would miss at least six months of football.

Millwall do have a 28-day recall option in the loan deal, but Orient will hope that isn’t used and the forward wearing the number 32 shirt in E10 is a success.