Leyton Orient Good Friday home preview

[Sweden Stag]

After earning a creditable 1-1 draw away to Tranmere Rovers last Saturday, the Stags are at home on Good Friday. And the opponents are Leyton Orient, who have won their last three EFL fixtures, the latest one at home to Oldham Athletic to a 3-1 scoreline, in fact reffed by Darren Drysdale.

Meanwhile, the Stags have drawn their last four EFL fixtures, including the last three home ones. Undefeated at home in the last five, and that against sides like Morecambe, Cheltenham and Forest Green. While Leyton Orient have won three out of their latest fixtures on the road, all with a 1-0 scoreline, but crashed heavily at Exeter nearly a month ago.

Four consecutive Stags League draws isn’t a Stags record. The record is five, achieved at third level between October 18 and November 22, 1986. Run started at Chester and ended at home to Bolton (with two postponed home fixtures in between) during the reign of Ian Greaves.

Last season, Leyton Orient won both games against the Stags, contrary to the games in 2016-17. More in the Match Centre.

From the Leyton Orient line-up against the Stags in 2016-17, which fielded two ex-Stags in form of Nicky Hunt and Ollie Palmer, latter the scorer of our first FL goal back in the League at Wycombe in August 2013, none is now at the Londoners although a few players still are in the League (Palmer now at AFC Wimbledon to name one) while Hunt has signed for Darlington in National League North. Out of the then Stags’ players, White, Pearce, Benning, Hamilton and Rose all starred last season. Pearce and Benning started at Brisbane Road in August 2016, while Hamilton came on as sub seeing Matt Green hit a late winner.

The games in the 2016-17 season were to be the Stags’ first-ever double against the Londoners under different names over the years dating way back from the Stags’ inaugural FL season in 1931-32 as the Stags early on in the 2016-17 season recorded a rare victory, to the tune of 2-1 despite missing a penalty, at Brisbane Road. That one was only the Stags’ fourth away win at Leyton Orient of all time. The one in 2016 proved to be a pointer for the Londoners, who went on to lose eight straight home fixtures. Leyton Orient went on to lose eighteen home games, winning just four, but their last one then proved to the one which consigned Hartlepool to follow Leyton O into the non-league doldrums.

A sharp contrast to the 2013-14 campaign in which the O’s long time were sitting in the League One promotion zone, finally narrow losing out on Championship promotion by losing on penalties to Rotherham in the playoff final. Since then, Leyton Orient slid rapidly and dramatically enduring loads of managerial changes since the sacking of Russell Slade in September 2014.

The boss who steered Leyton Orient back into the League was Justin Edinburgh, who sadly passed away one month after the O’s EFL return. That might have had an impact on the Londoners, who axed Carl Fletcher after just 29 days. The interim manager following Edinburgh’s sad passing, Ross Embleton, was axed a little more than a month ago. Edinburgh also masterminded the promotion of Newport County in 2013 after making wonders at Rushden & Diamonds a few years earlier before they busted.

The Londoners are best known as FA-Cup giant killers, i.e. reaching the semi-finals way back in 1977-78, the Stags’ only season in the old 2nd division, where Orient, as their name was then, were one of our opponents. In the final home game that season on April 29, 1978 in front of 6,336, Sandy Pate scored his last league goal for the Stags in a 1-1 draw which was essential for the Londoners in their eventual successful fight against the drop. But in London, Orient as usual won the home fixture. Then to a 4-2-scoreline at Brisbane Road on December 3, 1977.

The “O’s”, who played a single season in the old first division in 1962-63, the Stags’ first promotion one, have done a couple of name swappings in their previous League history, being elected to the old 2nd division in 1905 as Clapton Orient. Just after World War II, they changed their name to Leyton Orient. During the 1966-67 season, they swapped their name to simply “Orient”. And in 1987, they changed their name back to Leyton Orient. As a result of this, the Stags have faced Leyton Orient under all their three names and the Londoners also faced the Stags in their first-ever league season in 1931-32. And the first home game was won 4-3 on January 16, 1932 in front of 6,719 who saw Weightman, Bowater, Johnson (2) as Stags scorers, and in fact the “O’s” faced the Stags in all their div 3 (S) seasons.

At home, the Stags have twice beaten the Londoners with a three-goal margin. The first was a 4-1 on December 27, 1969, inflicting the eventual div 3 Champs their biggest defeat that season, Stags goals Roberts D 2, Stenson and an own goal watched by 7828. The second was a 3-0 on March 23, 1993 due to McCloughlin hitting the target twice and Withe netting once attended by 2776, thus gaining revenge for the Stags’ biggest-ever defeat against the Londoners, a 1-5 hammering away on November 28, 1992. Another four-goal-margin rout inflicted was the Stags’ first-ever FL defeat, a 4-0 on September 5, 1931, but revenge was gained a couple of months later (see above). The home game on May 31, 1947, lost 1-3 with Chessell scoring for the Stags seen by 4412, must be the latest date ever for a league home game in Stags League history. And the 0-2 on March 15, 1969, was the Stags first home league game after the famous FA Cup exploits reaching the quarter-finals in the 1968-69 season.

Brisbane Road, or Leyton Stadium as the ground of the “O”s also is called, has never been a happy hunting ground for the Stags over the years as only three of the previous league outings in London before August 2016 had been won.

Here they were:

* On September 25, 1937, two goals from Crawshaw, then upping his tally to eight out of 25, helped the Stags to seal a 2-1 victory over Clapton Orient in front of 8590 spectators

*The 1985-86 season was Orient’s first-ever in the basement. On February 15, 1986, the Stags picked up a very crucial 1-0 win with Hitchcock saving a penalty near the end and Kent moments later hitting the only goal which secured the third consecutive away win during a spell that saw the Stags win eight games out of nine. The Orient side then included former Stags loanee Ian Juryeff, the much-travelled striker who 1983 scored 15 times in 19 games for then Swedish 4th division side IFK Munkfors, only about 40 miles north of the previewer’s home town. Juryeff is one of a few former Stags players which have played in Sweden.

* The last away win at Leyton Orient before 2016 was a 3-1 on March 4, 2000 (goals by Darrell Clarke, Chris Greenacre and an own-goal) watched by 4281. So all Mansfield’s away wins at Brisbane Road have been achieved under all of Leyton Orient’s different names! (Clapton Orient in 1937, Orient in 1986, Leyton Orient in 2000 and on August 27, 2016).

The teams also met in the 2001-02 season, when the home fixture attended by 5,168 was won 3-2 thanks to goals from Disley, Williamson and Greenacre but the away one was lost 2-0. The Leyton Orient side in March 2002 included Iyseden Christie, one of several players having appeared for both sides. One player having appeared for both sides was not mentioned on the history CD a decade ago. The name: Darren Rowbotham. He played four games for the Stags on loan from Birmingham during the 1992-93 season. He played six games for Leyton Orient, two of those as sub, on loan from Exeter City, during November-December 1999. Other players having appeared for both sides include the scorer of our winner at Chesterfield in September 2013, Calvin Andrew, and the scorer of our first FL goal back in the FL, Ollie Palmer (at Wycombe). More recently, Nicky Hunt appeared for both sides as have Shaquile Coulthirst and last season Lee Angol. And two of our latest recruits, Jordan Bowery and goalkeeper Marek Štěch, has previous Leyton Orient playing experience

Earlier this season, Leyton Orient for the third time in preview history scored late against the Stags, hitting the equalizer to 2-2 in added time. The second time was the winner in the corresponding fixture at One Call last season, while the first time was on August 16, 2003, when Gary Alexander hit the Leyton Orient equalizer moments after that Liam Lawrence had hit the woodwork for the Stags.

While the Stags sit nine points above the drop zone, Leyton Orient are upper mid-table now. A side who definitely needs to watch out, are Colchester, with just one win in their last 22 games. They have in fact endured a similar run before, and that was in the 1967-68 season, when they won just one out of their last 23 games at third level, and in fact, their run then started at Field Mill on Boxing Day, 1967. That same season, the Stags and Orient (as they were called then), played out two goal-less games within two days at the time sides played each other twice over Easter (as also was the case around Christmas as the Stags were away to Colchester a few days after the game on Boxing Day 1967). Other sides in the then third division were Barrow (who endured their sixteenth odd-goal defeat out of eighteen last Saturday) and Grimsby, currently bottom in League Two. Think the fight against the drop will be between Grimsby, Southend, Colchester, Barrow and maybe Walsall.

Played for both sides: James Alabi, Calvin Andrew, Lee Angol, Adam Barrett, Jordan Bowery, Eric Bryant, Reginald Bungay, Iyseden Christie, Paul Connor, Wayne Corden, Shaquile Coulthirst, Stephen Dawson, Eddie Edmonds, Greg Fee, Ernie Gillatt, Warren Hackett, Darius Henderson, Stuart Hicks, Nicky Hunt, Dai Jones (left full back), Ian Juryeff, Martin Ling, Allan Livingstone, Michael Marks, James McGeorge, Luke O’Neill, Ollie Palmer, Mark Peters, Samuel Robinson, Ted Roseboom, Darren Rowbotham, Jamie Sendles-White, Mark Smalley, Marek Štěch, Soloman Taiwo, Chris Tate, Christopher Timons.

Home stats: P 26, W 9, D 10, L 7, GF 35, GA 29
Away stats: P 27, W 4, D 5, L 18, GF 25, GA 52

Season Home Date Away Date

1931-32 4-3 1932-01-16 0-4 1931-09-05 Div 3 (S) as Clapton Orient
1937-38 3-1 1938-02-05 2-1 1937-09-25 Div 3 (S) as Clapton Orient
1938-39 1-0 1939-04-08 0-0 1938-12-03 Div 3 (S) as Clapton Orient
1946-47 1-3 1947-05-31 1-3 1946-10-12 Div 3 (S) as Clapton Orient
1966-67 1-1 1967-04-22 2-4 1967-05-12 Div 3 (old) as Leyton Orient
1967-68 0-0 1968-04-16 0-0 1968-04-15 Div 3 (old) as Orient
1968-69 0-2 1969-03-15 0-1 1968-08-24 Div 3 (old) as Orient
1969-70 4-1 1969-12-27 0-1 1969-08-30 Div 3 (old) as Orient
1977-78 1-1 1978-04-29 2-4 1977-12-03 Div 2 (old) as Orient
1985-86 1-1 1985-09-18 1-0 1986-02-15 Div 4 (old) as Orient
1989-90 1-0 1990-02-24 1-3 1989-11-25 Div 3 (old) as Leyton Orient
1990-91 3-3 1991-04-16 1-2 1990-09-08 Div 3 (old) as Leyton Orient
1992-93 3-0 1993-03-23 1-5 1992-11-28 Div 2 as Leyton Orient
1995-96 0-0 1995-08-19 0-1 1996-01-13 Div 3 as Leyton Orient
1996-97 0-2 1996-09-14 1-2 1997-01-04 Div 3 as Leyton Orient
1997-98 0-0 1997-11-29 2-2 1998-04-04 Div 3 as Leyton Orient
1998-99 1-2 1999-02-13 1-1 1998-09-08 Div 3 as Leyton Orient
1999-00 1-1 1999-09-11 3-1 2000-03-04 Div 3 as Leyton Orient
2000-01 2-0 2001-04-21 1-2 2000-11-04 Div 3 as Leyton Orient
2001-02 3-2 2001-10-05 0-2 2002-03-19 Div 3 as Leyton Orient
2003-04 1-1 2003-08-16 1-3 2004-01-17 Div 3 as Leyton Orient
2004-05 0-1 2004-11-27 1-2 2005-05-07 League 2 as Leyton Orient
2005-06 0-1 2006-04-15 1-3 2005-10-01 League 2 as Leyton Orient
2015-16 1-1 2015-12-12 0-1 2016-04-30 League 2 as Leyton Orient
2016-17 2-0 2017-01-28 2-1 2016-08-27 League 2 as Leyton Orient
2019-20 2-3 2019-08-20 1-2 2020-02-11 League 2 as Leyton Orient
2020-21 (at Leyton Orient) 2-2 2020-09-19 League 2 as Leyton Orient

No cup games have so far ever been played between the sides in any cup competition.

Three points on Good Friday should be nice. Come on Mansfield!

[sw19stag]

Hi Svante, we played them in the Leyland DAF cup 89/90 season.

I remember the freezing cold night match defeat at Orient, miserable!

[garlic]

Excellent as usual Svante, many thanks