Dans at the double as O’s clip the Bluebirds
JOBI McANUFF stressed how vital the victory was as his Leyton Orient side saw off Barrow.
The O’s, who have only lost two of their 15 matches under interim manager McAnuff, moved to within a point of a play-off place thanks to second-half goals by Dan Happe and Dan Kemp and their interim manager could not hide his delight.
“It was a very important win for us,” he insisted. “Particularly after Tuesday’s draw at Harrogate where we twice had the lead and let it slip. But the message we gave was that we have to move on.
“I felt the first half we were a little slow in our build-up, but second half we got the goals which we deserved.
“I was pleased for Dan Kemp. He has brought a real energy to our play, he is so dynamic and has played in multiple positions.
“I’ll be honest, we are talking about the job, but my focus is getting the wins we need to get to where we want to be.”
Ollie Banks went close after 23 minutes when he raced on to a corner delivered by Chris Taylor, but could only send his header over the bar from six yards.
Orient wing-back James Brophy cut in and beat two defenders, before drilling a right-footed effort narrowly over the bar shortly before the break. Other than those two incidents, there was little to enthuse over in the first period.
Orient started brightly after the restart and went ahead after 52 minutes. Kemp collected a short corner and delivered a ball into the box where Jamie Turley headed it back across the face for Happe to hook in. The O’s doubled the lead after 63 minutes when Conor Wilkinson found Kemp, who twice feigned a shot and placed an effort into the corner of the net from outside the box.
Barrow caretaker Rob Kelly said: “Yes, it was frustrating and disappointing. I don’t think there was any lack of endeavour or effort.
“It was a tight game when the first goal was always going to be important. We had an opportunity, but we didn’t take it, they had an opportunity and took it.
“We huffed and puffed and there was no lack of will, we just didn’t have enough. We don’t want to mope around and dwell. We’ll have to take it on the chin and move on.”
DAN HAPPE