Brisbane Road manager discusses Dean Cox’s display, another good performance and why Charlie Grainger was on the bench

East London Advertiser: Leyton Orient head coach Ian Hendon (pic: Dave Simpson/TGS Photo).Leyton Orient head coach Ian Hendon (pic: Dave Simpson/TGS Photo). (Image: �TGS Photo tgsphoto.co.uk +44 8450 946026)

Leyton Orient head coach Ian Hendon praised Dean Cox after the midfielder capped an excellent performance against Dagenham & Redbridge last weekend by scoring a stunning free kick.

The 28-year-old continued his impressive start to the season by assisting the opening goal for the O’s on Saturday at Victoria Road.

He found Paul McCallum in the box, who headed over the Daggers goalkeeper to give the visitors the lead.

Lloyd James doubled that advantage from the penalty spot before Cox scored a sublime free kick from 25-yards-out to make it 3-0.

Although former Orient man Jamie Cureton pulled one back for the hosts late on, it was the O’s who were left happiest at full time.

Hendon said: “Take away Dean’s football ability and his goal, his work rate was unbelievable. I thought he epitomised our performance and the togetherness that is in the squad at the moment.

“I can only talk about what my team does, they have performed great in all the games we have played so far and let’s hope that continues.

“We have started well, got in front against Dagenham and after that it didn’t look like we would get beat.

“From a manager’s point of view that is nice, there is going to be times when it is tough and we are up against it so we will see how we cope then.”

A trend that has occurred since Hendon took charge of the O’s is his willingness to give youngsters an opportunity.

19-year-old Scott Kashket has featured already this campaign while fellow academy players Sam Ling and Freddy Moncur have been on the bench.

On Saturday, Hendon decided to list talented goalkeeper Charlie Grainger as a substitute over Gary Woods and he expected why afterwards.

“No, Gary isn’t injured. We just thought we’d give Charlie Grainger a go. Obviously Alex is in goal but Charlie is a young goalkeeper with a bright future ahead of him,” said the Orient head coach.

“The more we can introduce him to match days and get him on the bench, get him involved then the quicker he will develop.

“That is what we want to do here. It is the same reason Kashket played the other night and we have young players on the bench like ‘Lingy’ and Moncur and Sandro Semedo and Montel Agyemang are in the squad.

“We want them to experience what is going on because at some stage they are going to be needed and the more we can prepare them now the better.”

Orient midfielder Harry Lee has joined National League side Welling United on a one-month loan to improve his match fitness after struggling with a knee injury during pre-season.