EDINBURGH IS HIT BY A DALY DOSE
MARK Yates tasted victory for the first time as Solihull Moors manager and admitted that his side should have had the points in the bag by half-time.
But it was no winning return for new Leyton Orient chief Justin Edinburgh, who couldn’t prevent his side extending their unbeaten run to 15 matches in his first game in charge.
A Liam Daly header just short of the hour mark was all that separated the sides but Moors were also twice denied by the woodwork with Orient keeper Dean Brill also pulling off a number of good saves.
“We were tremendous,” Yates beamed. “It was a total 90-minute performance and we should have been four or five up at half-time. Sometimes when that happens and you haven’t scored it can be difficult to get going in the second half.
“But we need to keep improving and we will do everything we can to get further up the table.”
Moors might have gone ahead on 13 minutes when Jermaine Hylton looped a header against the O’s crossbar with Jamey Osborne – starting a month’s loan from Grims- by Town – directing his followup straight at Brill. But after dominating for so long, the Moors were almost caught out ten minutes before the break when a fine 25-yard effort from James Dayton forced home keeper Max O’Leary into a full-length save. It was a similar tale after the break – Oladapo Afolayan twice denied by Brill – but on 59 minutes, Moors finally found the net when skipper Darren Carter floated a freekick to the far post and defender Daly was on hand to head home. Another excellent Brill save denied Kwame Thomas five minutes from the end and Carter then crashed an injury-time penalty against the upright after Paul Green had been tripped. “It was a tough game, a battle, and you have to expect that at this level,” Edinburgh said. “The players gave me everything but I need more aggression, more physicality and for them to understand the league they are in. “This is the biggest club in the National League and we have to embrace that and not fear it.”