O’S BOSS RUES LATE LEVELLER
LEYTON Orient manager Russell Slade admits he was desperate to see his side break Fleetwood’s unbeaten start to the season but was left sickened by a late leveller.
Darius Henderson’s third goal of the campaign since joining on a free transfer from Nottingham Forest looked likely to inflict a first defeat of the League One campaign on the hosts.
But Graham Alexander’s outfit – promoted via the play-offs last term – are made of stern stuff and Stephen Dobbie’s first goal for the club, with seven minutes remaining, maintained their positive start to life in the third tier.
“It’s a difficult one to call because they were the better team for the first 20 minutes,” said Slade.
“They created a couple of opportunities and it took us a bit of time to settle down.
“But once we did that, we seemed to get on top a bit and caused them a few problems. It was becoming a solid away per- formance; we get the goal from a set-play which set us up nicely, but we haven’t seen the game out.
“The boys, myself and the staff are all very disappointed, but we know we should have broken their hearts and got the second goal and put the game to bed.
“I’m frustrated and disappointed as to the way we conceded the equaliser because we’re normally more resolute than that.
“He [Dobbie] has gone through a couple of tackles he shouldn’t have gone through and we should have stopped the goal.
“On another day they could have gone in but they’ve had one disallowed, so it wasn’t as if they were without a threat.”
Henderson gave Orient the lead ten minutes before the break as he rose highest at the back post to head beyond Chris Maxwell.
David Mooney later headed Dean Cox’s cross against the bar as Slade’s side looked to double their advantage.
But Dobbie fired home with a neat finish on the turn which left Fleetwood assistant boss Chris Lucketti beaming.
He said: “We’re delighted with the point because I thought we thoroughly deserved it and were good value for it.
“In the second half we were still suffering a bit from that goal, but to be fair to the boys they rallied and ended the game well.
“We knew they were a danger from set-pieces and Henderson causes problems up front, so their goal did knock us back for about 20 minutes.
“I thought we started off fantastically well and had a couple of chances which we should have taken.
“They are a quality side with some quality players who were a whisker away from being in the Championship, and they’ll be up there again come the end of this season.
“It was a great finish from Dobbie and it was great to see him back on the pitch.
“We’ve missed him the past few weeks and he’ll be a great asset to us this season. “He showed everyone the quality he has got with the finish he produced this afternoon. It’s great to have him back.”
FLEETWOOD: (4-4-2): Maxwell 6, McLaughlin 6, Pond 6, Jordan 7, Crainey 7, Evans 6, Schumacher 6, Sarcevic 6 (Blair 82 5), Morris 6, Ball 6 (Dobbie 71 6), Proctor 6. Subs not used: Davies, Murdoch, Roberts, Hogan, Campbell.
LEYTON ORIENT: (4-4-2): Legzdins 7, Cuthbert 6, Baudry 6, Clarke 7, Omozusi 6 (Lowry 87), McAnuff 6 (Pritchard 73 5), James 7, Vincelot 7, Cox 6, Mooney 6, Henderson 7 (Simpson 83 5). Subs not used: Woods, Lee, Bartley, Dagnall, Simpson.