More home woes for O’s

Leyton Orient’s mixed form at Brisbane Road continued as they were beaten 1-0 by Luton Town this afternoon.

Kevin Nolan’s men were made to pay for a defensive mistake in the first half as Jack Marriott scored the only goal of the game.

They also lost Shaun Brisley to what appeared a serious header injury with the defender later taken to hospital.

Defeat seems them drop to eighth in the League Two table and out of the play-off positions on goal difference.

After scoring against Carlisle United on Tuesday, Ollie Palmer was given a start alongside Simpson.

Sammy Moore also impressed against the Cumbrians and was back on the left with Calaum Jahraldo-Martin and Jack Payne dropped to the bench.

Jobi McAnuff and Armand Gnanduillet were among the replacements again after missing out during the week because of injury.

The Hatters were captained by former O’s defender Scott Cuthbert while Kevin Nugent was in the away dug-out with Kevin Dearden.

Both sets of supporters were making a huge amount of noise inside the stadium as the hosts got proceedings underway.

Alex Cisak was forced to sweep up a couple of long balls and fooled Jack Marriott early on with a smart bit of skill.

Nolan showed his class in the 10th minute to help Orient win the first corner of the match and from the resulting set piece he had a shot blocked from close range.

Luton hit back, though, and nearly took the lead when Craig Mackail-Smith chested the ball down in the box.

It eventually came to Marriott, who appeared to work a yard of space, but Mathieu Baudry made an excellent tackle to halt the move.

What was clear from the opening quarter of an hour that the visitors didn’t lack confidence as they started brightly at Brisbane Road.

Marriott had another effort in the 18th minute after linking up with Paddy McCourt from a short corner, but dragged his shot well wide.

The pressure continued from the Hatters with O’s captain making a good block to stop a dangerous Cameron McGeehan cross.

Fortunately for the east Londoners, the resulting corner came to nothing and it gave them a chance to settle with 22 minutes played.

But five minutes later and the away side did break the deadlock at Brisbane Road after some sloppy defending from the hosts.

A long ball didn’t seem too threatening, but Shaun Brisley failed to deal with it and Marriott chested the ball forward and ran into the box.

It was a tight angle for the young forward, but he wonderfully lobbed the ball over Cisak who was caught too far off his line.

Things didn’t get much better for Brisley as he was caught accidently by the Hatters goalkeeper Jon Mitchell in the 31st minute from Sammy Moore’s free kick.

He needed a lengthy amount of treatment and eventually left the field on a stretcher in the 37th minute.

McAnuff replaced him with Sean Clohessy dropping to right-back and Nicky Hunt alongside Baudry in the centre of defence.

The Jamaican, who went to the left with Moore switching to the right, almost made his impact immediately felt as he cut inside after Nolan’s pass, but his shot was easily gathered by Mitchell.

Both sets of players were flying into tackles now and a heated exchange occurred between Baudry and McGeehan occurred.

McAnuff then wanted a foul after O’Donnell appeared to block him off, but got nothing and the Luton ace crashed into a photographer near the advertising hoardings.

As he remained off the pitch, Orient attacked and worked the ball out to Moore, but his cross was headed over by Palmer from close range.

The fourth official signalled that seven minutes of stoppage time would be added on and Jerome Binnom-Williams went close in the first.

He skipped inside one opponent before rolling the ball past another, but his outside of the boot effort was saved by the away custodian.

It was all the home side now and Moore had an effort with his left foot that flew over the bar, but that was the last notable action of the half and it stayed 1-0 at the break.

Any momentum O’s had going into the interval wasn’t taken into the second period as they started sluggishly.

In the 59th minute the hosts did wake up as Simpson and McAnuff linked up before the latter crossed into the box, but Cuthbert cleared.

The substitute then won a free kick in a promising position, but once again the Hatters were able to defend it and get the danger away.

Andy Hessenthaler and Lee Harrison had seen enough and decided to bring on Gnanduillet in place of Palmer.

Orient had a bit more of a spring in their step now and Binnom-Williams’ excellent centre was cleared by Cuthbert.

Luton were still posing a threat, though, and should have doubled their lead in the 67th minute.

Nigel Atangana slide in to stop the away teams attack, but the ball rolled out perfectly for Dan Potts.

The former West Ham United youngster could only curl wide from just inside the box and the chance was wasted.

Jahraldo-Martin was introduced a minute later with Moore the man to make way as the hosts searched for an equaliser.

Nolan’s men continued to press but once again their former defender kept thwarting them.

Clohessy delivered a wonderful ball into the box, but Cuthbert brilliantly headed away with Gnanduillet ready to pounce.

The French forward went close himself moments later, but his firm strike was well held by Mitchell as the rain began to lash down in east London.

Orient were beginning to build up ahead of steam, but they lacked the quality to make it count as the Hatters time after time defended resolutely.

Just on the stoke of 90 minutes, Baudry first went down before Gnanduillet did in the box, but both were fair tackles.

Four minutes of stoppage time were added on and again Gnanduillet was picked out in space, his cross was cleared once more though.

And that was the closest the O’s would go as the full time whistle followed to consign them to another loss at home ahead of next weekend’s trip to Oxford United.

Leyton Orient: Cisak, Hunt, Baudry, Brisley (McAnuff 37), Binnom-Williams, Clohessy, Atangana, Nolan, Moore (Jahraldo-Martin 68), Palmer (Gnanduillet 61), Simpson.

Unused substitutes: Grainger, Essam, Payne, Pritchard.

Luton Town: Mitchell, O’Donnell, Cuthbert, Sheehan, Potts (Okuonghae 87), Smith, McCourt (Ruddock-Mpanzu 65), Lee, McGeehan, Mackail-Smith, Marriott (Green 77).

Unused substitutes: Justham, Lawless, Benson, Pigott.

Attendance: 5,684 (1,402 Luton Town supporters).