Former Brentford and Reading forward reflects on 6-1 loss to League Two outfit in FA Cup

East London Advertiser: Leyton Orient forward John Marquis scores his first goal for the club against Staines Town (pic: Simon O'Connor).Leyton Orient forward John Marquis scores his first goal for the club against Staines Town (pic: Simon O'Connor). (Image: 07958 573219 simon.oconnor@virgin.net)

Staines Town manager Nicky Forster was proud of his side after their 6-1 defeat in the first round of the FA Cup on Saturday against Leyton Orient.

The League Two hosts showed their class early on and were three goals up inside the opening 13 minutes with Ollie Palmer netting a brace and Dean Cox on target.

Swans skipper Darren Purse pulled one back against his former club, though, and earned a round of applause from the Brisbane Road supporters. But another Cox goal before the break essentially put the tie to bed at the interval.

Staines more than held their own in the second period, however, before late goals from John Marquis and Sean Clohessy made it 6-1 to the O’s in the end.

But the former Reading and Brentford forward was pleased with his players and just felt they didn’t cope well enough early on.

Forster said: “I don’t think there was any shame in our performance. The gulf of quality was there to see and certainly the finishing was superior.

“We said we can’t win the game in the first 15 minutes, but we can certainly lose it and we didn’t cope with the occasion during the first quarter of an hour.

“That is the only criticism I would have that we needed to weather that initial period and get to grips with the occasion. We didn’t but to be fair we haven’t got boys that have been in this position before.

“A lot of them haven’t played in front of crowds like this so it is very difficult to give them that just verbally.”

The Staines fans had something to cheer about when Purse scored against the O’s with a lobbed finish in the 23rd minute.

Forster praised the Orient supporters for applauding the goal and also discussed the second half performance from his side.

He admitted facing the east Londoners was a step too far in the FA Cup, but was proud of his team and the displaythey delivered against League Two opposition.

“I thought it was fitting that ‘Pursey’ scored and it was a nice gesture by their fans to clap him,” added Forster.

“It just gave us that little bit of belief and after that the game settled down, we had a bit of possession and they obviously had theirs.

“Second half we reacted really well and although we lost it with two late goals, I thought we asked them some questions. We were on the front foot at times, we were pressing them and getting corners and having shots so it was much better.

“It is a game of goals, that is what it is all about and we lost the second half 2-0. The game was really stretched at the end.

“Their quality was always going to shine through, but we have had a fantastic run. It was just a step too far but we enjoyed the day and can go home with our heads held high.”