A Tale Of Two Strikers?

It could be a tale of a former striker coming back to impose misery when Leyton Orient face off with Bristol Rovers in the Carling Cup on Tuesday, a trip to Blackburn Rovers' Ewood Park the prize for the victors.

The home side will have ex-Rovers forward Jamie Cureton as the experienced spearhead of their attack while Scott McGleish, a man who represented the O's in four different spells, is likely to line up against the club he left in June.

If you had to pick one of the two to come out on top you would find good odds on McGleish and his Rovers team mates picking up the win despite being a division lower than their hosts. Orient currently lie bottom of League 1 after a tumultuous start to the season, yet to pick up a point and with the worst goal difference, -10, in the whole of the Football League. Russell Slade's boys slipped up at home against Carlisle on Saturday despite having taken a 53rd minute lead through Jimmy Smith, only to see the Cumbrians level soon after and hit the winner with three minutes left on the clock.

Six goals have been conceded at home so far, an average of two a game, and you have to go back to April for the last time the O's won at Brisbane Road. The only game Orient have 'won' this season was away to Southend in the first round of the Carling Cup, and even then they required penalties to see off the fourth tier Shrimpers.

Rovers, too, took their first stage opposition to spot kicks after holding Watford, two divisions their senior, to a 1-1 draw at the Memorial Stadium. The 37 year old McGleish, played predominantly on the wing in recent games, may have to change his boots soon, having failed to score since the opening day of the season, Rovers drawing a blank on their last two Saturday's. The aforementioned Cureton, however, is yet to have his name on the scoresheet this term, his team scoring just three goals in their six games thus far.

During a four year stint at Rovers Cureton bagged 79 goals in all competitions before moving onto Reading. In his first season with the Second Division Royals he managed a further 27 league goals yet failed to win promotion, having to wait a further year for his shot at the First Division. A short stint in South Korea with Busan I'cons was followed by a link up with QPR, little succes coming the way of the Bristolian.

After another unsuccessful spell, this time with Swindon, Cureton signed for Championship Colchester where he hit a further 24 goals. After three years at Norwich, during which time he was loaned out to several clubs, the striker teamed up with Paul Tisdale at Exeter, helping the club to challenge for the League 1 play-offs. There was interest from Rovers in pre-season but the 36 year old decided against dropping down a level, signing instead for Orient in June.

McGleish currently stands with a total of 203 career league goals and is in his 17th consecutive season as a professional footballer. Signing for Charlton from the non-leagues McGleish joined Orient for the first time in March 1995 where he scored his first senior goal. Next came a transfer to Peterborough where he was once again loaned out before linking up with Orient again for a £50,000 fee.

The striker didn't last a year with the O's before being sold to Barnet, scoring 42 times in four years prior to signing deals with Colchester, Northampton and Wycombe, getting his third shot at Orient from the latter team, again on loan before going to sign permanently after being released in 2009, spending two more years at Brisbane Road before joining the Gas, opening his account on his debut against Wimbledon on the opening day.

In their last two games away at Leyton Orient Rovers have shipped nine goals, losing their last four games at any venue. They do, however, have the better record between the two sides, winning 43 of the 108 times they have met, it is the O's, though, who have progressed through the only League Cup tie, back in 1998 when the competition was still a two-legged affair, winning 2-1 after extra time and 3-2 on aggregate.

The referee on Tuesday will be Northamptonshire's Andy Woolmer. The last time Woolmer took charge of a Rovers game was away to MK Dons in January, a 2-0 defeat for the Gas that saw four of their team go into the book. Little under two months before that the official stepped onto the turf at the Memorial Stadium when Rovers played Orient, sending off home full back Carl Regan for a dreadful, shin-high challenge on Stephen Dawson. Twelve yellow cards have been flashed in the five games Woolmer has taken charge of this season, though no reds have been drawn from his top pocket.

Goalkeeper Jamie Jones (shoulder) is definitely out, meaning either David Button or Lee Butcher may up take the place between the sticks. Michael Richardson, on loan from Newcastle, has been given permission to play by his parent club.

The visitors will be without Cian Bolger who strained his ankle ligaments when playing against Watford, and Charlie Clough who has been out since pre-season. Joe Anyinsah (hamstring) has not been in training and is unlikely to start while Michael Smith and top scorer Matt Harrold have niggling injuries. Manager Paul Buckle admitted on Monday morning that striker Jo Kuffour may leave the club before the transfer window closes and may not be risked against the O's.

Danny Woodards is line to take a place in the squad, possibly making his debut if he were to get onto the pitch. Youth team players Darren Jefferies and Shaquille Hunter have also been drafted into the 18-man squad, the latter only turning 16 at the start of the week.

Buckle, appointed as Rovers boss in the close season, noted the threat that McGleish will pose to his former club come 7:45 Tuesday night.

"We will show Orient a lot of respect. Russell Slade is an experienced manager and his side will be viewing this match as a way of getting back on track, so we must make sure that we go there and be solid to start with.

"They have some great players and were a strong side in League One last year, and did well in the FA Cup. However I think Scott is due a goal; it's likely we will play on the counter attack tomorrow and Scott will play a big role for us."

The First Impressions Are The Most Important

The summer without football feels like an eternity, last year we had the World Cup to entertain footy fans but this year there has been nothing with such importance. That's why July the 6th was a special day, the pre-season fixtures have started and there's no turning back from here.

And so it began at Cossham Street, Mangotsfield, a squad that was largely unrecognisable from the previous season being displayed over the course of two separate teams in each half and the end result looked just as good on the pitch as it did in Thursday's local newspapers, a 5-1 win thanks to a deflected Lee Brown strike, a cool finish from Scott McGleish, a solid strike from Eliot Richards and a Ben Swallow brace.

The most impressive aspect was the way Paul Buckle had set his team out to play, knocking the ball around with a great deal of comfort, using the wide areas and going at the opposition who failed to cope with the speed of the game. Admittedly there were a few stray passes but this is the squads first game together and they have only been in pre-season training with each other for a week, some even less than that, while the pitch was a typical non-league affair, more akin to the rolling hills of the Quantock's than the bowling greens Buckle would like to see his team playing on, meaning that when they stroll out onto Football League standard pitches their game should come together rather better.

That's not to say the football was dire, it was clearly the makings of some attractive stuff and the players on display proved they are capable of performing with a style and vigour unseen at the Memorial Stadium for a number of years. The stand out performances from the first half came from 37 year old Scott McGleish and central midfielder Craig Stanley.

McGleish threw the doubters off his back as he worked tirelessly and rewarded himself with a goal. Even though he is closer to climbing over the hill than he is to his late twenties McGleish ran with a youthful exuberance and wanted to be involved in everything. What was most noticeable was the fact that the Leyton Orient legend never strayed too far away from the play, always keeping close to the ball where he could feed off of the midfield with his canny runs.

There was also passion on display, a refreshing site for those who have had to watch the likes of Mark Wright and Dominic Blizzard happily take the clubs money. McGleish is not just out for one final payday, he has a hunger for the game which was on display, most notably in the first half when, despite the game being no more than a friendly, the striker reacted to having a header cleared off the line with a brim, Cockney 'F**K OFF'. The goal he scored was a tidy finish, what you would expect from a man with as much experience leading the attack as he has, moving outside the line of the ball and bending it across the keeper with cucumber-like coolness.

The assist on that goal came from Craig Stanley, partnering the rather anonymous Chris Lines in the centre of midfield. Despite not being the tallest of central midfielders Stanley has a bulky frame, broad shoulders and a fair old set of ears to boot. He made this count as he proved to be the battler, getting stuck in with his defensive duties yet also stroking the ball around, building up the play and moving forward towards the Mangotsfield third himself, box-to-box seems a good description of the 5' 8" midfielder on this display.

As the game moved into the second half Rovers took the liberty of making nine changes to their side, goalkeeper Lance Cronin and centre back Charlie Clough the only men to keep their places. Though the attacking instincts of the side were unchanged there was a little less width, Wayne Brown, a central midfielder by trade, playing on the right hand side, a position from which he proved highly dangerous, setting up Ben Swallow's second.

From the second half kick off it looked as though Swallow would be playing on the left but after a couple of weaving runs Paul Buckle appeared to give him more of a free role, allowing him to roam across the front line, popping up on the left, right and centres of midfield and attack, a capacity that he looked to have the utmost pleasure in.

He continued to take on defenders with jinking runs, spread the play and keep his team ticking over, very different to the displays that Gasheads became accustomed too under Paul Trollope, the limiters seemingly being put on the winger under the former gaffer, and he fully deserved the two goals he put way, the first being a tasty left foot curler. Players such as Carayol and Anyinsah may have been brought in above the little Welshman but if he continues in the same vein over the course of pre-season then he will no doubt be a regular starter in the first XI.

Kudos too has to go to the trialists who provided Paul Buckle with some food for thought; Cian Hughton, son of Birmingham manager Chris, and Reggie Lambe who applied themselves to the task at hand and came out with a great deal of admiration heading their way, as did debutant Michael Smith, playing his first game since joining from Ballymena United.

So a great start to the Buckle era, though it will likely remain a forgotten footnote if all things go to plan, but it still made interesting viewing for the crowd of over 1,000, many of whom would have spent the ninety minutes playing who's who with the new faces.