Brisbane Road boss pleased to see side bounce back after Luton loss but unhappy with Baudry’s red

Leyton Orient player-manager Kevin Nolan was thrilled with the response his team gave him at Oxford United today.

The O’s picked up all three points after Jobi McAnuff struck the only goal of the League Two contest 16 minutes from time.

It delighted the travelling support at the Kassam Stadium and helps lift the east Londoners back into the play-off positions.

Last weekend they dropped back down to eighth after losing 1-0 at home to Luton Town, but Nolan was delighted with the result at Oxford.

He said: “Definitely an important win, especially after the disappointment of last weekend.

“After analysing it, I asked for a reaction from the lads and they’ve been absolutely fantastic in training and everything has been spot-on.

“They have matched it with a performance today and a well deserved victory. To come here and carve out the chances we did – it could have been three or four.”

Orient’s only disappointment from the afternoon was the straight red card shown to captain Mathieu Baudry.

He cynically brought down Kemar Roofe in stoppage time, but the Yellows attacker wasn’t clean through on goal.

The Oxford winger was close to the touchline and it was a shock to see referee David Coote send the away skipper off.

But the O’s player-manager did admit Jerome Binnom-Williams could have given away a penalty for a challenge on Liam Sercombe early in the second half.

Nolan added: “I don’t think it was a red card from seeing it in real time and then watching on the video has just backed up my view.

“I’m hoping we can appeal it, I think we were quite fortunate today because they could have had a penalty.

“Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and if it had gone against us we couldn’t really have argued against that. I think he might have got that one wrong, but I’d certainly say he got the red wrong.”

It was a surprise to see Shaun Brisley start at the Kassam Stadium after he was knocked unconscious against Luton last weekend.

Nolan confirmed that he went through all the necessary proceedings and was fine to start the pivotal League Two clash.

“That is what us northern lads do, we do the unexpected,” joked the Orient boss after the full time whistle.

“Shaun has been brilliant since the day he walked into the club. After Saturday we were quite wary and we have done everything the protocol says.

“He came through it with flying colours. It was great to have him available and as you see it was another commanding performance from him and the skip.

“I thought Hunt and Jerome were good too so we are now sorting of getting a continuous back four where they are all consistent. Hopefully that is something we carry on from now until the end of the season.”