Two Saturdays and two wonder strikes condem Orient to 0 points.
I'm not sure what was worse...our piss poor attendence or Matthew Springs passing. Either way today was another one to forget. As bad as it was, or seemed at least, I have seen us play a lot worse and win. That's not to say we deserved to win but had a few little things gone our way we could have walked away with the 3 points.
The first half was a strange one in so much that the quality from both teams was awful but both teams managed to create a fair few chances. Orient looked brighter out of the box but soon fell into the pedestrian stroll that plagued the first half at Walsall. We just weren't moving the ball enough and when we were a final touch or pass gifted Tranmere back the ball. Revell won a lot of balls in the air but we never got a hold of the second ball.
In the way of chances Orient created the better. Jimmy Smith again looked our most dangerous player from set pieces flicking just wide from a Charlie Daniels free kick and straight into the keepers arms from a delivery from the same player when a goal looked a cert. The only other decent Orient chance of the first half came from a Cureton cross after he down well to lose his man down the right. The ball found Revell in the box who could only spear his volley wide. Orient had more chances but Tranmere should have been a goal up at half time after Adam McGurk ran through on goal only to drag his shot wide.
The second half started well for the O's with Dean Cox finding space outside the area on two occasions and tested the keeper both times with low drives. A neat move between Cox, Cureton and Dawson gave the latter a shooting chance which flew wide and shortly after Cox put Cureton through who saw his shot ping off the foot of the post.
That was as good as it got for the Orient as after a few threatening shots the ball fell to defender Buchanan a full 30 yards out who smashed a shot into the top corner of Lee Butchers goal. Noone was near the player when he shot but to run into two 30 yard screamers in two weeks at this level is just unlucky.
The game faded after that as Tranmere did a great job of running the clock down. It was a little harsh by the crowd to boo Andy Robinson for taking his time leaving the pitch as I don't think he could of physically run any faster.
Orient looked a bit tired second half and never really found their groove today. They did create some chances which is a good sign but it was all a bit lackluster in the end. Bring on Tuesday.
Ratings:
Butcher - 6.5 - Again not a lot to do. Could do nothing for the goal. Kicking wasn't great.
Omozusi - 6.5 - Had a quiet game. Didn't do a lot at either end.
Cuthbert - 7 - Looked solid at the back but again nothing spectacular.
Chorley - 7.5 - Won a lot in the air today and did a good job againt a taller striker.
Daniels - 7 - Whipped in some great free kicks and was rarely troubled defensively.
Smith - 6.5 - Had a couple of good headers but should have done better with one. Fairly anonymous apart from that.
Spring - 5 - To his credit he put in a great last minute tackle in the first half. Apart from that was slow on the ball and made several awful passes.
Dawson - 7 - Did well considering he hadn't trained until Thursday and showed the determination the midfield need.
Cox - 6 - Never got into the game again and needs to start putting more crosses in.
Cureton - 7 - Looks to be fitter and made some great runs in behind. Possibly could have done better when hitting the post.
Revell - 7 - Won a lot in the first half but first touch was off all game. Frustrating afternoon.
Subs:
Mooney - 5 - Had about half an hour but hardly touched the ball. Looked like he wasn't sure where he was meant to be playing.
Richardson - 5 - Cant remember him having more than one touch.
Porter - 5 - Not on long enough to impact.
Slade - 6 - Team selection was ok but need more width on the right. Subs made next to no impact.
Ref - 6 - Blew up for literally any bit of contact for both teams. Didn't let the game flow but didn't make a major decision wrong.
AS
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