Football Season Review

Most Leyton Orient fans will have to deal with a mix of pride and sadness when thinking about their club's 2013/14 campaign, as the season that is now behind us saw the O's performing above all expectations, only to miss out on a place in the Championship due to a penalty shoot-out Wembley defeat to Rotherham. Russell Slade's men, who finished each of the previous two seasons just outside the top six, started their campaign in a flying manner, as they won their opening eight games and collected 32 points from their opening 12 matches. Predictably, the O's could not maintain their early form, and went on a particularly poor run of form between mid November and late December, as they won only twice in eight games during this period. There were fears among the O's fans that Slade's men would suffer the fate of last season's surprise package Tranmere and collapse in the second half of the season, but a major crisis that some feared never came, as Leyton Orient managed to pick themselves up after every poor run they had. However, they were unable to repeat their early season heroics in the second half of the season, and ended up finishing third, as Wolves, who broke the division's record for most points, and local rivals Brentford both proved too strong. Slade's men reached Wembley after claiming a superb semi-final win over Peterborough, and looked to be on course to beat the Millers in the play-off final, but they had a two-goal lead cancelled by their former striker Alex Revell, who struck twice in five minutes to bring Rotherham back on level terms. The O's had a 3:2 lead in the penalty shoot-out after three spot-kicks, but they missed their final two penalties, allowing the Millers to reach the Championship. Slade's future at the helm is uncertain, as he has been linked with moves to several different clubs from the second tier, and even with WBA, and the main question surrounding the O's going into the summer break is whether or not their manager will remain at the helm and go on another quest for promotion.

Player of the Season: Dean Cox