Late rally not enough as Orient beaten by Swindon

Leyton Orient 1

Swindon Town 3

Goals from Keshi Anderson, an own goal from Joe Widdowson and one from Jerry Yates gave Swindon Town a comfortable 3-1 victory over Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road this afternoon.

Orient struggled to cope with Swindon’s slick passing, and couldn’t handle the attacking threat posed by the League 2 favourites, most notably from Keshi Anderson and midfielder Lloyd Isgrove, who ran the game for the first hour.

In their pre-match programme notes, both Orient interim head coach Ross Embleton and club skipper Jobi McAnuff spoke of their hopes that the O’s could hold their own against most in English football’s fourth tier this year. They may not have been referring to Swindon when they made those comments.

To be fair to Orient it is not games against the likes of the Robbins, who the bookmakers make 6-1 to win the league, on which they will be judged, but it is clear that the step-up from non-league football is going to be a challenging one.

Swindon set the tone from the off, winning four corners inside the first five minutes. The only surprise was that it took them until 21 minutes to take the lead.

Kevin Anderson’s free-kick, 25 yards out and just to the left of centre, was blocked by the wall, but when the rebound found its way back to Anderson, he beautifully curled the ball past Dean Brill in the Orient goal for his second of the campaign.

Jerry Yates and then Anderson again had good chances to double the visitors’ lead, before it was 2-0 four minutes before the break. Rob Hunt’s cross-shot from the right took a wicked deflection off Widdowson, which wrong-footed Drill.

And in first-half stoppage time it was game over, when Yates curled a beauty past Brill after being played in by Isgrove.

Orient were restricted to long shots in the first period, James Brophy and Conor Wilkinson having the best two efforts for the O’s.

Orient were better in the second half, which will give Embleton hope, and after Wilkinson hit the outside of McCormick’s post, half-time substitute Jordan Maguire-Drew pulled one back, arrowing a right-footed shot into the top left-hand corner.

Louis Dennis, another substitute, could have made it 3-2 on 84 - his header well saved by McCormick.

But it was too little too late for the O’s, who were second best to a side who looked good enough for a step up to League One next term. For Orient, this year is more about survival.

Orient: Brill, Ling, Widdowson, Ekpiteta, Coulson, Clay (Gorman), Wilkinson, Happe (Maguire-Drew), Brophy, Angol (Dennis), Wright

Subs: Sargeant, Gorman, Maguire-Drew, Dennis, Harrold, Marsh, Ogie

Swindon: McCormick, Rose, Baudry, Isgrove, Yates, Landolo, Lyden (Grant), Hunt, Conroy, Doyle, Anderson (May)

Subs: Henry, Reid, Broadbent, May, Woolery, Curren, Grant

Referee: Kevin Johnson