Football Season Review

After they broke their club record run of undefeated games last term and strongly challenged for the Play-Offs, few would've expected Leyton Orient to struggle as badly as they did this season. The very beginning of the season was nothing but dreadful, with the O's drawing three and losing seven of their opening ten games. The 2-2 away draw at Huddersfield, achieved after the Terriers lead 2-0 with five minutes remaining, proved to have been the turning point; the O's went on a run of 15 games during which they lost only twice, and the fans even started dreaming about a Play-Off push, as the side was finally starting to play the football they were expected to. But things started to get worse after New Year, the O's home form remained as poor as it had been since the beginning of the season, while even results away from home started to dry out. It seemed that the side was set for another season of midtable obscurity, only for things to get even worse late on, as a horrid run of seven defeats from eight games prevented the O's from finally crossing the 50 point park and securing their safety. They eventually managed to secure their survival in the penultimate round, thanks to Notts County's win at Wycombe, and there is little doubt that Russell Slade will reshuffle his squad quite a bit during the summer, as the O's didn't perform nearly as well as they should've, given the players that they have. Kevin Lisbie has been the standout of a bunch of average performers, and his relatively consistent form somewhat made up for Dave Mooney's inconsistency and Jamie Cureton's inability to settle in London.

Player of the Season: Kevin Lisbie