BOCO SENDS ORIENT LOCO!
SUPERSUB Rommy Boco snatched a point for resurgent Leyton Orient as Gary Waddock’s frustrated table-toppers Aldershot threw away a two-goal lead.
Both sides will lay legitimate claim to having deserved victory in a game that ebbed and flowed ferociously.
But, having raced into the lead, the Shots again saw their home form – so imposing last season – falter in the face of an O’s side finally getting what manager Steve Davis felt was their just rewards.
“In the first half an hour I couldn’t see that being the end result,” said Davis. “But Craig Clay’s goal sparked us into life and I thought we were the better team in the second-half. We just weren’t in the game until then, we were well off the pace and invited pressure onto us.
“It feels like a win, and even though we’re thinking ‘what if ?’, we’re delighted with a point. We showed real spirit and determination to get something from the game, but we’ve played well in patches in all of our games and not won. Hopefully today will give us that extra bit of confidence.”
Yet Orient were almost third in a two-horse race in the opening stages, and Cheye Alexander rifled in a superb, left-footed 20-yard drive on nine minutes to illuminate the Shots’ domineering start.
The lead was doubled on 20 minutes, as Matt McClure robbed a hesitant Jamie Sendles-White, cut inside from the right and beat Grainger with an equally impressive 15-yard shot into the top corner.
“Our performance first-half was outstanding, we’ve scored two worldies and we could have been 4-0 up,” said Waddock, who also saw James Rowe’s free-kick hit the side-netting and then the midfield- er’s header parried by Grainger.
The visitors, however, enjoyed a crucial spell either side of the break. Clay’s header was well saved by Jake Cole, only for the same player to meet Jobi McAnuff’s deep free-kick with a free header from barely a yard out seconds later.
Waddock conceded it was the turning point as the Shots’ boss hailed “an unbelievable save” by Cole to deny Macauley Bonne an equaliser in first-half stoppage time.
By contrast, the second-half failed to yield many chances, and Aldershot thought they had weathered the Orient storm, but with Kellermann and McDonnell going close from distance, O’s substitute Boco pounced on a towering flickon from Bonne to round Cole and slot in the equaliser.
Clay’s header was then cleared off the line by Alexander in time added on, and the points were shared. STAR MAN: Jobi McAnuff (Leyton Orient) ATT: 3,060 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: David Rock 6/10
“Our performance first-half was outstanding, we’ve scored two worldies and we could have been 4-0 up” Gary Waddock Aldershot manager “It feels like a win, and even though we’re thinking ‘what if?’, we’re delighted with a point” Steve Davis Leyton Orient manager