Brisbane Road boss full of praise for side after coming from behind at Carlisle to draw

Leyton Orient player-manager Kevin Nolan praised the second half display of his team at Carlisle United last night (Tuesday).

The O’s found themselves trailing one nil at the break thanks to Macaulay Gillesphey’s 17th minute free kick.

Ollie Palmer and Sammy Moore were introduced at the interval and Jay Simpson equalised at Brunton Park five minutes after the restart.

Palmer then put the visitors ahead 18 minutes from time, but the Cumbrians picked up a point after Michael Raynes 84th minute header.

Nolan took off Jack Payne and Sean Clohessy at half time, but admitted it could have been any one of his players.

He said: “I don’t think it was just a matter of us making two substitutions, I think all of us lads had been so poor in the first half.

“I said to them any one of us could have been taken off at half time. The two unfortunate ones did, but in the second half I wanted a reaction and everyone gave me one.

“That made it a lot easier for the lads coming on and the most important thing for me was that we did have that reaction.

“Since I have been here, when we have gone one down we haven’t been able to recover or get something from the game. The most important thing was that we have at Carlisle and I was delighted with the response.”

Nolan admitted when they look back, they will be frustrated not to close out the match and earn a third consecutive victory.

But the former West Ham United captain did admit the hosts could have been out of sight at half time.

He picked out various aspects of Orient’s play that didn’t please him, but hopes the point could be a crucial one come the end of the season.

“When we look back, we are going to be very disappointed having managed to get ourselves 2-1,” added Nolan.

“We seemed to be dominating the game in the second half, but what we have to realise is that in the first 45 Carlisle have had a lot of decent and good chances, which they could have put away.

“They could have put us to bed. We started with a system that I thought would help us, but we just couldn’t get the ball back and do what we have asked over the last couple of days.

“We couldn’t get in and around them and the distribution from our lads at the back wasn’t as good as it was on Saturday against Crawley Town.

“That made it more difficult for us to try and get any play going or create any chances.

“We couldn’t get any momentum going so that’s the most disappointing thing, but we’ve got to respect what I think will be a fantastic point come the end of the season.”

Orient’s draw at Brunton Park sees them remain seventh in the League Two table ahead of hosting Luton Town on Saturday.