Brisbane Road skipper reflects on 6-1 thrashing to MK Dons and admits players let everyone down
Leyton Orient captain Nathan Clarke hopes O’s supporters still believe the club can beat relegation despite Saturday’s thrashing to MK Dons.
Orient conceded four times in the first half and twice more after the break to fall to a five-goal defeat with former West Ham United youngster Rob Hall bagging a hat-trick.
Jay Simpson pulled one back in the 69th minute for Fabio Liverani’s team, but not all of the 905 away supporters witnessed the strike.
A lot had left Stadium mk already and Clarke admitted they let themselves down as well as everyone associated with the club on Saturday.
“Of course we believe we can beat relegation,” said O’s skipper. “If you don’t believe you shouldn’t be with us.
“This is a group that is desperate to do well and get out of this mess. We feel as if it is in our own hands.
“We have got to be positive because we have got some good players and we need to make sure we are delivering on match day.
“On Saturday we let a lot of people down, a lot of family and friends, and the fans as well. It is disappointing because we had a good number of fans turn up.
“We just hope they have not lost faith in us. They have spent a lot of money travelling up and down and we hope that they do that again for us on Tuesday at Rochdale.”
Clarke insisted the defeat to Dons was the most disappointing of the season, but because it was the most recent.
The 31-year-old refuted claims the home side were hungrier than Orient’s players, but conceded they didn’t perform well enough as a team.
It was O’s heaviest defeat for 13 years and the Brisbane Road captain admitted they allowed Karl Robinson’s side to play to their strengths.
“Of course this is the biggest disappointment of the season because it is the most recent,” added Clarke.
“It is still fresh in our minds at the moment that we have not done well and as a professional you go out every game wanting to do as well as you can. It wasn’t individuals, it was a team, and a team that didn’t do well.
“I wouldn’t have said MK Dons were hungrier than us. I think we possibly played into their hands a little bit in the sense that they have some fantastic ball players and we possibly let them dictate too much to us.
“They were a lot sharper than us, they moved the ball a lot quicker and I guess we possibly allowed that too much. They got into their rhythm and it was hard to contain.”
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