BONNE FIRES THE ORIENT!
O’s take honours in top-of-the-table clash
LEYTON ORIENT moved three points clear at the top of the National League after beating promotion rivals Wrexham.
In front of over 6,000 at the Racecourse Ground, Justin Edinburgh’s side edged a tight contest to send a big message in the title race.
The division’s top scorer Macauley Bonne breached Wrexham’s water-tight defence with five minutes remaining, and then James Brophy wrapped up the points in the dying seconds.
The O’s are now unbeaten in seven league games and are yet to lose on the road as their potential return to the Football League gathers momentum.
COMIC CON comes to Wrexham on Saturday – this weekend the super heroes were dressed all in yellow. When you’ve got someone with the goalscoring powers of Macauley Bonne there’s always the chance of late victory in a tight encounter. And so it proved when the Orient striker, well marshalled throughout, rifled a loose ball into the roof of the net. With five minutes left on the clock there was little time for the Welsh side to react, but the O’s wrapped it up in the 90th minute regardless when James Brophy lobbed in. It keeps their unbeaten away record intact, inflicted a first home defeat of the season on Wrexham and, most significantly, puts them three points clear at the top of the table.
“Huge performance,” O’s boss Justin Edinburgh said. “Very resolute, determined. We had to call upon Dean Brill today probably for the first time in the season for important saves and when he was called upon he was top class.
“With the form we’re in, with the front boys, we know if we get the chance then we will dispatch it. It’s a huge three points.
“When it falls in the box, the one person you want to see it falling to is Macauley Bonne. That’s why he’s the player he is. The second one is a sublime finish as well.
“We had to do a lot of the basics, the graft, the side I like to see. The defenders defended for their lives today.”
This was the first truly big weekend of the season. Elsewhere, second-place Salford City were at a Solihull Moors
outfit sat in fourth.
It’s exactly what the National League needs and this intriguing match between two of the division’s best sides delivered on the tension and drama we can expect.
A first-half punctuated with fouls from the frustrating whistle of David Rock, saw little in the way of clear chances.
Jobi McAnuff curled a free-kick off target after Dale Gorman had been knocked over 25 yards from goal.
At the other end, Rekeil Pyke escaped in behind the visiting defence but keeper Dean Brill stayed big to block the shot.
It was also a meeting of two of the most miserly defences at Step 1. Marvin Ekpiteta has been one of the stories of Orient’s season so far and the young centre back was excellent again, making an important intervention to hook a dangerous ball clear, while Myles Judd made a similarly crucial clearance.
As the game drew on, the nerves for both supporters continued to jangle. Wrexham thought they’d broken through on 64 minutes. Captain Shaun Pearson finding Brill equal to his powerful downward header that looked sure to hit the net.
In the sort of game managers would probably take a point from, both dug-outs made attacking
sub- stitutions to win it.
Mike Fondop was quickly involved following his introduction, sending Luke Young up the right where his cross found James Jennings’ head – Brill was well-placed to hold on.
Within four minutes the O’s were ahead. Wrexham switched off, the ball dropped from a corner and Bonne swivelled to flash in an emphatic finish for his 16th of the season.
The post then denied Orient’s Josh Koroma a wonder goal after a mazy run that started on the left flank and ended with a low shot from the edge of the box. The clincher wasn’t far away. Keeper Rob Lainton was out of his box to try and clear up a slack ball back and his header went straight to Brophy, who lofted a gorgeous second into an empty net.
“I’m obviously bitterly disappointed in the result, but not in the performance,” Wrexham manager Sam Ricketts said.
“I thought we were very good, very controlled, the better team.
“In any game you need to take your chances. We had really good chances, didn’t take them and when that’s the case, we’ve spoken about being 1-0 up when we haven’t killed the games off, and then one mistake from a set-piece costs you the game.
“The second goal is irrelevant because we were chasing the game. The first one is obviously the one that hurts us.
“They’re a good side but we had chances and didn’t score.” STAR MAN: Marvin Ekpiteta (Leyton Orient) ATT: 6,428 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: David Rock 5/10