On Sunday 26th May the second round of the Walking Football Leagues Alliance (WFLA) Cup took place at Rectory Park, the HQ of Middlesex FA. Orient qualified for the second round with a win over Billericay in the final group game at Wadham Lodge in the first round. This time, the squad was changed in its entirety with players drafted in from over 60s, over 65s and over 70s along with the young tyro Lillington.

The first game was against the London Peruvians. Dunn was visibly shaken by the white shirts with red stripes bringing back bad memories of Argentina 1978. Curiously, before the game started one of the penalty areas was not marked out. Eventually the referee turned up with some pitch markers to eventually start the game. Orient started in a 2-2-1 formation with Everett in goal, Inkpen and Conlan at the back, Dooley and Dunn in midfield with Lillington up front. The first half was evenly contested, however the Peruvians took a single goal lead into half time. Sensing an opportunity to get a result a more offensive 1-3-1 formation was adopted with Clancy and Baker replacing Inkpen and Dooley. Unfortunately this did not go to plan. Clancy, who was supposed to provide more potency up front, ended up being last man on three occasions as the Peruvians scored three goals to comfortably win by four goals to none. Frustratingly the Peruvian’s movements throughout was very quick which the referee seemed mostly to ignore bar issuing a couple of warnings. Final score: Leyton Orient 0 v 4 London Peruvians.

In the second game, Orient faced Colchester Phoenix who qualified alongside the Os at Wadham Londge in March. The 2-2-1 formation was reinstated with Clancy replacing Dooley in the starting line up. Despite the referee, a proper game of walking football was played. Colchester scored the only goal of the game thanks to a deflection off Dunn from a long distance effort which went one way as Everett went the other. Lillington was replaced by Dooley at half time along with Baker replacing Dunn who has somehow managed to get two warnings for running! Unfortunately these changes did not result in a required breakthrough. Final score: Leyton Orient 0 v 1 Colchester Phoenix.

The third game was against Watford. With Conlan having given an exemplary defensive performance against Colchester Phoenix, he was rested. Clancy and Inkpen formed a new defensive pairing with Dunn, Baker and Lillington ahead of them. Clancy attempted a cross area pass which the Watford striker read and intercepted to open the scoring. This did not dishearten Orient who went on the attack against the crisp munching keeper who suddenly was faced by Lillington whose cunning saw him appear to mis-control the ball only to out fox the defender. One on one there was only one outcome as Lillington blasted the ball into the back of the net. There would be no motivational half team talk from their keeper today! Watford were rattled, possibly for the first time that day. As Orient settled into the game, a defensive lapse saw the Watford number nine on his own in front of the area from a ball that fortuitously rebounded to him to give Watford the half time lead. The cry from Watford at half time was to watch the Orient number nine. Lillington had put fear into their minds. Dooley replaced Baker at half time. In the second half, it was the Watford number nine giving Clancy and Inkpen plenty of problems at the back, however despite mostly containing him and seeing many of his shots go wide or saved by Everett, he did set up two team mates and eventually bagged one for himself. Given Watford’s dominance on the day beating all comers and scoring for fun, the loss was not unexpected and Orient had posed them problems, particularly in the first half. Fnial score: Watford 5 v 1 Leyton Orient (Lillington).

The final game was against Tottenham. Orient reverted back to the defensive partnership of Conlan and Inkpen with Clancy and Dunn in the midfield behind Lillington in attack. Orient started brightly and won a free kick on the left hand side of the area. Clancy feigned to pass and the Spurs players moved forward, as they moved back three meters away, the ball was flicked back to Lillington who drilled the ball into the back of the Spurs net. One nil to the Orient! Spurs were visibly shocked with heads in hands. Try as they might the resilience of Conlan and Inkpen held out Spurs until Inkpen inadvertently stepped into the area. Seen by the referee, this resulted in a penalty that Everett was unable to do anything about. The Spurs players were constantly running through the Orient midfield and defence with few warnings issued. Their striker was pulled up three times for running with no blue card issued and they had replaced a player with two warnings. Inevitability this told on the Orient defence as Spurs scored a second before half time. Conlan and Clancy were replaced at half time by Dooley who slotted into the defence with Baker playing in the midfield. The Spurs runners scored again with no warnings issued. Orient held firm to the end. Final score: Tottenham Hotsteppers 3 v 1 Leyton Orient (Lillington).

After play Clancy commented that, “Watford deservedly qualified first winning all their games. London Peruvians were second thanks to a superior goal difference but with Colchester Phoenix and Tottenham Hotsteppers tied on all criteria they had a penalty shoot out to decide the third place qualifier. Spurs lost on penalties, schadenfreude given the nature of their play throughout the four games. Indeed, the Scottish referee who had officiated at the WFLA Over 65s midweek commented that it was refereeing veterans football not walking football. This was always going to be a difficult day for a team that had not played together in competitive competition prior to today. To the credit of all the players, there was a collective determination to come away not only with credible performances but also some results. Watford and Tottenham were both rattled, Colchester knew they were in a game and only in the second half against the Peruvians were Orient not competing which was due to being too ambitious. As captain and de facto manager there were a couple of calls that I didn’t quite get right on the day, and whilst they would not have resulted in qualification they may have given Orient a couple of well deserved results. Finally I would like to thank everyone who came along and represented our club with great pride and determination.”

Leyton Orient squad: Keith Everett, Julian Lillington, Stevie Dunn, Steve Inkpen, David Clancy, Tim Conlan, Vince Dooley, Simon Baker.

Goal scorers: Lillington 2.

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Image used © 2024 Trevor Ridley

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