COUNTY KINGS!
Rampant Hatters fire National North warning
JUSTIN EDINBURGH says his players must get used to the relentless pressure that goes with a promotion push as Leyton Orient kicked off their season with a creditable draw at early title favourites Salford City.
The O’s found themselves under the spotlight of the BT Sport cameras for yesterday’s lunchtime opener and spoilt Salford’s National League arrival party by forcing an 88th-minute own goal equaliser from Liam Hogan after Rory Gaffney had put the home side ahead.
Over 700 supporters made the trip up to Manchester from east London and although Edinburgh was delighted to have sent them home happy, the former Tottenham Hotspur defender expects similar attention for Tuesday night’s visit of Ebbsfleet United.
“The pressure on Tuesday will be the same,” Edinburgh told The
NLP. “When you’ve been in the game 25-30 years as a player, as a coach or a manager, you have a way of putting pressure on yourself or you wouldn’t be in the game. You have to perform, you have to win games.
Determined
“All the other stuff, I didn’t focus on it. I’m not on social media, I just keep the focus on my work, on my players, on my staff and let other people get involved in that sort of stuff.
“We’re in this game to be recognised for our work, we want to win games and show people we’re good at what we do. I think we did that as well and as a club.
“The supporters were fantastic today. It could have been so easy with an early start to watch on TV, but our fans have been incredible and they played their part. When the game went quiet, they lifted us and got us over that line.”
When it comes to entrances, however, Billericay Town’s arrival in National League South will take some topping.
The big spending Bostik Premier champions opened up their Step 2 account with the long trip to Plain- moor and made a statement of intent by racking up a 4-0 victory over Truro City – top striker Jake Robinson, he of 52 goals last season, scoring all four in a demolition job.
If Billericay were the standouts in the South then Stockport County were the big-hitters in the North, racking up an impressive 5-1 thrashing of FC United of Manchester in front of a bumper crowd of 4,689 at Edgeley Park.
A brace from Matty Warburton followed a Euan Mulhern opener to give the Hatters a 3-0 half-time lead, but after Kurt Willoughby had pulled a goal back, it was left for Paul Turnbull and sub Kallum Mantack to complete the rout.