Disasterous Rovers Fold To Orient

Carl Regan's challenge on O's captain Stephen Dawson, for which he was shown a red card

It's been a long, long time since I've seen such an abysmal performance from Rovers, but the big question that has come out of today's game for me is how long, or short, will it be before I see such a display again.

It was tough coming into the game for Rovers, star man Hoskins definitely out, a strong performing Reece highly doubtful and John Akinde 50/50, but, before the game at least, it was good news that Akinde was able to pull on the shirt and step out onto the Memorial Stadium pitch, after the game, however, my feelings are rather different. Akinde was supposedly the answer to our problems up top, a big man who could hold the ball up and allow the play to move up in the mean time. The role he seems to play in the team, though, is token bean pole, getting many of the long balls from the back being put upon his head, a part of his body he is not particularly adept at using for a man of his stature. Throughout the game he shied away from jumping off of the ground in any attempt to get his head to the ball while he received very few balls to feet as much of the play went long. There was a glimmer of hope in the second half, a storming run, a la Wycombe, winning a free kick but that aside there was very little to speak of from the on loan striker. Eventually he was taken off with a knock to the ankle that had been troubling him in the days leading up to the game, although Paull Trollope has stated that he is hopeful he will be OK for Brighton on Saturday.

Up front with him Jo Kuffour was forced to practically feed off scraps as he received little support from Akinde and, following Carl Regan's red card, had nothing from the wide areas either. Eliot Richards substitute performance was decent, there was little opportunity for him to make a difference but a bursting run from the Welshman nearly saw a Rovers penalty. Aside from that he put himself about the pitch and looked ten times more interested than Akinde.

Aside from the three Orient goals the key point was the red card handed to Carl Regan at 2-0 down. During the 34 minutes prior to the sending off the full back had been given a torrid time by the O's on loan winger Paul-Jose M'Poku who stuck to the line, forcing indecision from Regan. This went to create the first Orient goal as they took advantage of the space created between Regan and Anthony to send Stephen Dawson through to cross for Dean Cox to open the scoring.

After the incident Regan was subject to a river of abuse from fans in the DAS West Stand and it appeared that he reacted to some of this. It was a shocking challenge and you could see it building in him, the couple of tackles he'd put in before on M'poku were quote tough but he'd gotten them right. The fans in the West Stand were getting at him from the first time their winger got forward and it never stopped from then on and when he put that challenge in it practically killed off any chance we had of getting anything from the game so you can see why the fans were getting at him, I couldn't blame him for his reaction. That being said he's a professional and should know better than to shout and swear at the fans.

Personally I think Regan has been one of our more consistent performers this season, but many fans have been unforgiving for his poor performances from last season, which seemingly coincided with his friend Mark Wright falling foul of fans. He was a regular starter with a promotion chasing MK Dons side the season before he joined us and I fully believe that he should be our first choice right back for the foreseeable future. But let us not forget the victim of the challenge, Stephen Dawson who will go for n x-ray on his injury in the next few days. A little after he was substituted off a member of the Orient staff ran past with a pair of crutches intended for him. I wish him a speedy recovery, as I'm sure his fellow professional Carl Regan will.

Of all the defensive players Gary Sawyer was the one who came out with the best performance, especially during the second half when he made a number of explosive runs from his position, acting much more like a wing back. It is clear to see that Byron Anthony is not a full back, he has put in some stirling performances there, starting the season in that position, but he appeared uncomfortable playing there today, particularly without a winger in front of him to interact with. Coles and Tunnicliffe were not as dominant as they should have been, both in the air and on the ground, while their distribution throughout was terrible, mainly consisting of long balls to Kuffour and a static Akinde.

With an automatic three match ban for Regan Paul Trollope will have to get creative with the way he sets out his defence, especially next weekend against Brighton as it is highly unlikely they will allow him to play against them as his parent club.

In midfield their was little to speak about aside from sideways passing and a general lack of forward movement. Chris Lines was the best of the bunch, trying to push forward and create but much of the play bypassed the players in midfield, who spent much of the game playing narrow following that aforementioned red card. Campbell grafted as usual but failed to have the impact with one less option around him. The game seemed to pass Jeff Hughes by although he will be disappointed to have skied a half volley when through from the edge of the area while the scores were still 0-0. A quick word on goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen who was not helped by the defence in front of him. The first goal was from a tight angle and on the volley but many of his problems were created from poor backpasses which pressurised him, nearly resulting in the Dane losing the ball to Alex Revell at one point.

Prior to the kick off was a minutes silence for remembrance day which was perfectly observed by both sets of fans and upon the referee blowing his whistle to signal the end there was rapturous applause, followed by a superb rendition of goodnight Irene from the home support who, despite the on pitch performance, were noisy throughout. In the initial exchanges Orient looked comfortable to pass the ball around the back and frustrate the Gas, but when they started to see the home side falling off of them and dropping deep they changed their game plan for the better.

The players to pick out from the Orient ranks were their front three, Alex Revell, Deab Cox and Paul-Jose M'Poku. Prior to this game Revell had scored four goals in his last four games and he wasn't to be denied more goals for his seasons tally. his first goal was an excellent header, fired right into the bottom corner away from Mikkel Andersen. His second was made from an excellent M'Poku cross, though the in form front man had to take two bites at the cherry before poking the ball over the line. On the wings Cox and M'Poku were a constant threat, hugging the touchline and splitting the Rovers defenders, helped by a number of excellent wide balls from their midfield teammates and they created some equally good chances.

Paul Trollope has had his say after the game and quite rightly labelled the performance as 'unacceptable'. He spoke to bristolrovers.co.uk after the game, saying:

"This was a vastly different performance than what we saw at Darlington and Plymouth, where I came out and protected the players as we had great territory and possession and may be deserved more.

"Today the defeat was warranted. It was frustrating as we really didn't get near the level we know we can and we have had a long chat, and there were a few harsh words in the dressing room.

"We had a chat about consistency, as that is the key to being successful as an individual and as a team.

"You cannot choose when you feel like playing and when to extend yourself fully, it has to unconditional, it has to be every game, and certainly today we didn't extend ourselves in any shape or form."

Not only the result but the manner of the defeat will be damaging for a manager who had only just started to turn fans around following the exciting 6-3 win over Wycombe in midweek. There were calls on both fans forums and BBC Radio Bristol for his head as well some of those above him within the club.

The game will be a massive boost for Russel Slade's side who had previously gone 18 games without an away win. He told leytonorient.com:

"Overall it was a great, great performance, particularly when it was 11 v 11. The first two goals we created in that period were great goals.

"We were on the front foot before the sending off and we kept ourselves there afterwards. We kept it nice and tight and we managed to get a third.

"We could possibly have had a fourth as well, but it didn't matter.

"We kept a clean sheet, that gave me a buzz. The fact that we've got the monkey off our back, that gave me a buzz. And we go into Tuesday's game now on the back of a really important win for us."

This will go down as perhaps the worst display in the league thus far this season, some will say even worse than the 4-0 defeat at the hands of Southampton, and few will disagree with this. Rovers have a tough run of games coming up, including trips to table topping Brighton, Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton and a home game against their bogey side in recent years, Bournemouth. If injuries continue to afflict the squad Paul Trollope could have some selection issues, that is of course assuming that he is still around to have any such problems.