The win on Tuesday night will be a massive confidence boost for a club who have not been in the best form in recent weeks, unable to win in four previous games with two draws against Hartlepool and Carlisle, and two losses, going down to West Country rivals Plymouth and in that aforementioned FA Cup tie. Add to that the loss of top scorer Will Hoskins and you could almost forgive the players for feeling downhearted, but after scoring six quality goals against Wycombe the squad morale should have picked up.
Orient's form in their last six games reads won two, drawn two, lost two, with all but the most recent result in that sequence coming in the league. That last result came in last weekends FA Cup when the O's faced an East London derby away against neighbours Dagenham & Redbridge. Alex Revell opened the scoring in a match up that has already seen the Daggers win in the league this season, but the hosts pulled level before half time thanks to a free kick from winger Danny Green. The two sides will face eachother once again on Tuesday, a game that Rovers hope will be playing on the minds of the Orient squad.
Top scorer for Orient this season is that man Revell, netting seven times thus far, five times in the league including a goal on his debut, an equaliser against Yeovil on the opening day of the season. In his last four games in all competitions he has bagged four goals and will be a potent threat to a Rovers back line that haven't kept a clean sheet in eight matches. Revell has previous against Rovers, scoring a penalty at the Memorial Stadium last season when playing for Wycombe. He did have the chance to stay at Adams Park in the summer but turned it down to join Orient. The 6'3" striker will prove to be a thorn in Rovers side all afternoon as he grafts both on the floor and in the air.
Without Hoskins it was thought that Rovers would have little bite up front and would find themselves unable to finish off any moves that had unlocked defences, however, they proved emphatically on Tuesday that this was not to be the case. Jo Kuffour grabbed a superb hattrick, scoring a header, a turning volley and a neat finish following a rampaging John Akinde run. Those were goals four, five and six of the season for Kuffour who will hope to continue his scoring spree on Saturday.
Rovers and Orient have met eight times in the past three seasons, owing to the league and two FA Cup games and the ties have nearly all been high scoring. In 2007/08 the O's put three goals past Rovers on three separate occasions, winning twice and losing an FA Cup replay on penalties after the original tie finished 1-1. The Gas won both games the following season 2-1 before Orient took all three points by the same scoreline on the opening day of last season thanks to goals from JJ Melligan and Jimmy Smith. But the big scoreline was to come later in the season.
On a Tuesday night at Brisbane Road Rovers went in at half time a goal down, owing to a James Purches strike. The second half proved to be a disaster as Ryan Jarvis, a Mikkel Andersen own goal and further scores from Jason Demetriou and Jonothan Tehoue sent Rovers home with their tails between their legs in a 5-0 loss that also saw the Rovers debut of then loanee Wayne Brown. Rovers do, however, hold the cards on the overall results between the sides, winning 43 of the games between the two sides, drawing 28 and losing the remaining 35.
Rovers boss Paul Trollope knows what his side must do if they want to be successful against this weekends opponents, he told bristolrovers.co.uk:
"We want to make sure that on Saturday that we get the defensive detail right, as Orient have threats and people who can hurt you.
"But if we can get the quality into the strikers, like we did on Tuesday, we will be confident of creating, and hopefully scoring some goals.
"We will start in a positive manner and try and get that first goal which I think makes all the difference in games."
Orient are yet to win on the road this season but manager Russel Slade is confident that they can break their away day duck, as he said to the East London Advertiser:
“We’re getting better and when you talk to other managers and coaches the word is that Orient are getting stronger.
“I’m sure it won’t be long before we record that win and we will keep grinding away until we do.”
The big miss for Rovers will be striker Will Hoskins, who will be out for at least a month with a badly sprained ankle. Charlie Reece is also likely to be missing after suffering a back spasm in the warm up to the Wycombe game which meant he had to be withdrawn from the team, he will now visit a chiropractor in order to sort the issue, which is thought to be a nerve problem. Either Wayne Brown or Ben Swallow could deputise on the right hand side of midfield in Reece's place. On loan Bristol City forward John Akinde could also miss the game after taking a knock on his ankle against Wycombe, being substituted in the process. If he is unable to take his place in the starting XI he will be replaced by Eliot Richards, who would be making his first start in a first team shirt.
Scott McGleish may make a return to league action against the Gas having recovered enough from a rib injury to come on as a sub against Dagenham in the FA Cup a week ago. Two loanees will also return in the shape of winger Paul Jose Mpoku who has recovered from a hamstring injury and defender Andrew Whing who was denied permission to play against Dagenham in the cup by parent club Brighton.
The big miss for Orient will be goalkeeper Jamie Jones who has been out since the start of November and will now go on to have an operation on a hernia issue. Adam Chambers will also be out, having just had surgery on his calves.
The Gas will want to continue the progress they made on Tuesday night with another win against the O's. It is likely that this fixture will not be as the last however, and with a couple of niggling injuries it could mean young Eliot Richards will be thrown in at the deep end, a tough ask for a player who has made only nine substitute appearances in his short career.
HJBSports Prediction - Bristol Rovers 2-1 Leyton Orient
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