French defender issues rallying cry before judgement day for Fabio Liverani’s team

East London Advertiser: Leyton Orient's Mathieu Baudry challenges Coventry captain Jim O'Brien as Scott Cuthbert looks on (pic: Nick Potts/EMPICS)Leyton Orient's Mathieu Baudry challenges Coventry captain Jim O'Brien as Scott Cuthbert looks on (pic: Nick Potts/EMPICS) (Image: EMPICS Sport)

Leyton Orient defender Mathieu Baudry insists they will give everything at Swindon Town on Sunday to survive.

The Brisbane Road outfit need a win to give themselves a chance of staying in League One, but even that might not be enough.

If Notts County, Crawley or Colchester are victorious in their final matches of the season then Orient will remain in the bottom four no matter what happens on Sunday.

East London Advertiser: Mathieu Baudry scores for Leyton Orient against Sheffield United (pic: Simon O'Connor)Mathieu Baudry scores for Leyton Orient against Sheffield United (pic: Simon O'Connor) (Image: Simon O'Connor Photography)

But their 27-year-old French defender has called on his team-mates to fight until the bitter end.

“It is important that we keep creating chances,” said Baudry.

“We need to keep trying to play and we have a saying in France that says if you are going to die, die with belief.

East London Advertiser: O's Mathieu Baudry heads forward against Crewe Alexandra (pic: Simon O'Connor/TGSPHOTO).O's Mathieu Baudry heads forward against Crewe Alexandra (pic: Simon O'Connor/TGSPHOTO). (Image: Simon O'Connor Photography)

“We need to believe in ourselves and try to play our game, create chances and don’t have any regret when we come off the pitch at Swindon this weekend.”

If O’s do suffer relegation, though, Baudry insists it will affect the players a great deal.

He reaffirmed everyone is doing all they can to produce a great escape for Fabio Liverani’s struggling team.

“We have seen it happen over the years – everything is possible on the last day,” added Baudry.

“Players want to play at the highest level. Of course the fans are upset because they don’t want to go down to League Two, but we don’t want to either.

“Relegation does affect us and our whole career, so when people ask us to give everything, trust us we are giving everything.

“We don’t want to go down. It will affect our careers, our family and it affects everything.”

A positive for O’s is the fact that Mark Cooper’s Swindon have nothing to play for in terms of positions on Sunday.

The Robins are guaranteed to finish fourth no matter what happens at the County Ground this weekend so they could rest players in preparation for next week’s play-off tie on May 7.

But Baudry responded: “If you think Swindon have nothing to play for then we are dead.

“They are playing with no pressure so they can express themselves or maybe they are going to give a chance to people that haven’t played too much.

“Those players want to play in the play-off games so they will be eager to show their manager they deserve a spot. But we don’t need to think about them, we need to think about us and give everything we have got.”

It still might not be enough for O’s, but at least their Frenchman will be going down with a fight.