On a bitter Sunday 9th February Leyton Orient over 65s and over 70s lined up against two Redbridge teams in a series of pre-season friendlies.

Orient’s over 65s lined up for the first game in a 2-2-1 formation with Weston in goal, Inkpen and Conlan at the back, Mullins and Dooley in midfield with Slater up front. It wasn’t long after the kick off that the Redbridge striker stuck to leave Orient chasing the game. Another goal from the same striker before half time saw Orient go off two goals down. Changes were made with Howard coming on for Conlan to man mark the dangerous Redbridge striker and Duddridge replacing Dooley who had collected a green card. Duddridge quickly set about the Redbridge midfielder with some pushing and shoving which led to two blue cards and both teams reduced to five players each. Soon after Redbridge collected another blue card at the point Duddridge returned to the pitch. Disappointingly Orient did not take advantage of this with wayward passing and speculative long shots that posed no danger to Redbridge’s goal. When Redbridge returned to their full complement, Weston was forced to make a big save, however, a quickly taken free kick left the Redbridge striker in the clear to complete his hat-trick. Final score: Redbridge A 3 v 0 Leyton Orient over 65s.

Meanwhile Leyton Orient over 70s were struggling to find any sort of form against Redbridge B and just managed to scrape a win by a single goal. Final score: Redbridge B 0 v 1 Leyton Orient over 70s (Skaith).

For the second game of the day, which was against Redbridge B, there was a tweak to the formation with Howard replacing Inkpen and taking up a deep lying midfield role in a 1-1-2-1 formation. There was a massive improvement with Slater hitting the post and scoring a quick brace of goals and Dooley also hitting the post and scoring as the Os quickly raced into a three goal lead. There was considerable leniency from the referee on a wayward Redbridge defender who went on a walk about in the goal area. Orient dominated a fairly weak opposition and led by three goals at half time. Mullins and Slater were replaced by Duddridge and Inkpen at half time. Orient were again on top in the second half, but despite Howard hitting the post early on, they were far less ruthless with only Dooley adding to the score line mid-way through the half. Final score: Redbridge B 0 v 4 Leyton Orient over 65s (Slater 2, Dooley 2).

Leyton Orient over 70s now took on the Redbridge A team and settled for a defensive approach to ensure they had a better result than the Orient over 65s. This was apying dividends with Orient easily holding their own and reducing the Redbridge players to few chances. Of course it couldn’t last and an unfortunate lack of concentration by Myers in the Orient goal saw the ball squirm past him and into the net resulting in the only goal of the game. Final score: Leyton Orient over 70s 0 v 1 Redbridge A.

There was now a face off between the two Orient teams, Orient 65s and Orient 70s, to decide who would be the best Orient team on the day. The same starting line up was retained by the over 65s. The early action saw Slater and Mullins test Myers before Tim Conlan took control of the ball from Chris Conlan and neatly setting up Slater for the opening goal. The 65s defence was only threatened by a deflection from a Ridley shot ahead of the break. Inkpen and Duddridge replaced Conlan and Dooley at half time. Mullins caught the over 70s defence napping early on and doubled the over 65s lead within a minute of the restart. There was some solid defending from the over 65s limiting the over 70s to a single chance from Chris Conlan that was saved by Weston. With a couple of minutes remaining Duddridge had a shot, which was heading towards the top left corner, well saved by Myers keeping the score down to just the two. Final score: Leyton Orient over 70s 0 v 2 Leyton Orient over 65s (Slater, Mullins).

For the Orient over 65s final game, the best Orient team, faced off against the best Redbridge team, Redbridge A. Inkpen replaced Howard in the starting line up due to Howard picking up a strain from a previous game. This time, the Redbridge striker was marked tighter from the outset. Unfortunately, the opening goal came from another source with a weak bobbly shot on the right hand side inexplicably going past Weston inside the far post with three minutes gone. Inkpen’s man marking on the striker resulted in receiving his second green card a minute later, though it was arguable who initiated the offences. Duddridge came on to replace Inkpen for the remainder of the game. Dooley hit the post when Orient breached the Redbridge defence but Orient went off a goal down at half time. A quick start from Redbridge saw them double the lead within a minute. Orient played well in the final five minutes with Dooley taking advantage of a drop ball presented to Redbridge to trouble the Redbridge keeper, followed by a Mullins shot and a sweeping move that led to a Slater shot. However all in vain, as Redbridge ran out winning by two clear goals. Final score: Redbridge A 2 v 0 Leyton Orient over 65s.

Leyton Orient over 70s game against Redbridge B couldn’t have got off to a worse start with some uncharacteristic slack defending leading to an opening goal for Redbridge B. The rest of the game had Orient lay siege to the Redbridge B goal but it looked as it would all be to no avail. Fortune finally smiled on the Os when, in the final minute, a Redbridge player entered his own goal area and conceded a penalty. Ridley calmly stepped up and slotted home to spare the Orient blushes. Final score: Redbridge B 1 v 1 Leyton Orient over 70s (Ridley).

After play the over 65s manager shared his thoughts on their performance, “Orient 65s may have comfortably prevailed against Redbridge B and Orient 70s, but the games against Redbridge A highlighted issues that need to be addressed ahead of the start of the league season against a side that would be comparable to the teams Orient will come up against. Passes were wayward, too often ahead of the recipient and not to feet, far too much speculative shooting from distance and there was very little pressure put on the Redbridge defence when they had the ball. It was only very late on that Orient looked to pass their way through the opposition to the edge of the Redbridge area and cause them problems. Redbridge took full advantage of defensive mix-ups, some of this was due to the defensive pairing and formation not being wholly familiar. With five weeks to go before the start of the league season, it is crucial to iron out the issues so the two over 65s teams can hit the ground running when it matters.”

After the over 70s results Ridley commented that, “Given this it the first time some of these players had played competitive over 70s football these were commendable results and given more squad practices and the return of some of the regulars both the over 70s league teams should do well in the coming season.”

Leyton Orient over 65s squad: Tony Weston (Gk), Steve Inkpen, Vince Dooley, Phil Duddridge, Derek Slater, Mick Mullins (Cpt), Tim Conlan, Michael Howard.

Leyton Orient over 70s squad: Derek Myers (Gk), Dave Jones, Chris Conlan (Cpt), Steve Skaith, Gerry Schneider, Trevor Ridley, Alan Lester.

Goalscorers: Slater 3, Dooley 2, Mullins, Ridley, Skaith.

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Image used © Trevor Ridley