As the O's celebrate a victory which takes them into League One, Mike Bondy recalls a crucial end-of-season match which saved the team from relegation.

When Second Division Leyton Orient made their glorious surge to the FA Cup semi-finals in the 1977/78 season, no-one could have guessed that exactly one month later the team would be staring the last relegation spot full in the face.

Nothing less than a victory in the last League match away from home on Tuesday, May 9, 1978, was going to prevent the Brisbane Road club from dropping into the Third Division.

The task looked ominously hard, for their opponents Cardiff City were unbeaten in a run of 11 home games at Ninian Park while Orient, for all their stirring FA Cup deeds at Norwich and Chelsea, had managed just one League victory away from home in 13 months.

It was all down to the wire and with three possible results, it left the various permutations like this.

If Orient lost, they would be relegated along with Hull City and Mansfield Town. A drawn game at Cardiff still wouldn't be sufficient for the O's, as although it would put them level with Blackpool on 37 points, the sea-siders would stay up because of their superior goal difference.

A win though, by whatever margin, would be sufficient to save Orient and put them among a cluster of seven teams who had 38 points, the highest of which was Luton Town who were comfortably placed in 13th spot.

"It has been ridiculously tight at the bottom," said O's manager Jimmy Bloomfield. "Last season Orient escaped with 34 points, while in our last five games this season we've taken seven points out of a possible ten, yet dropped down two places in the table. Ironically though if we win tonight we will finish half-way up the League table."

Orient took a squad of 14 players to Wales and welcomed back Tony Grealish and Derek Clarke from injury, although David Payne and Alan Glover were both ruled out.

Coincidentally, Cardiff had saved themselves from the drop the week before when a goal from former Orient defender Paul Went proved to be the winner against Notts County.

Bluebirds manager Jimmy Andrews, a former Orient player, said: "I would be very sad to see my old club go down. I like the O's, but on this sort of occasion there really can be no room for sentiment."

It was Orient who went on the offensive from the opening whistle and for long periods Cardiff City found themselves pinned into their own half.

In the third minute Glenn Roeder headed the ball inches past the post from a Tony Grealish free kick. Then Phil Hoadley saw a fierce free-kick blocked close to the goal-line and shortly after Bill Roffey was only a fraction off target with a snap-shot on the turn.

The only relief for the home side came when Paul Went headed over the crossbar at the other end in a rare Cardiff breakaway.

At last, in the 35th minute, the O's got the breakthrough which they undoubtedly deserved.

The move began with a long throw-in near the corner flag from Tony Grealish which was nodded on by the tall figure of Joe Mayo.

Derek Clarke's shot took a deflection to send the ball spinning into the air where Phil Hoadley connected with his head. Peter Kitchen was on to it in a flash and toe-ended it past the dithering Cardiff keeper Ron Healey from just a few yards out.

It was Kitchen's 21st league goal of the season, probably one of the easiest, but certainly one of the most valuable.

Given that Orient's league tally for the entire campaign was a meagre 43, it was clear that Kitchen's goal-scoring prowess had been a vital contribution in his first season at the club after signing from Doncaster Rovers in 1977. It was no wonder that he had attracted the attention of several First Division outfits.

Orient might have increased their lead soon after when Clarke fired a shot through a cluster of bodies only to see the ball rebound off the foot of a post.

Cardiff City had been fairly limp in the first 45 minutes but tried to be a little more positive after the interval, though they lacked any real impact in midfield and their strikers were given few chances. John Buchanan made a gesture with a couple of long-range efforts which John Jackson comfortably held in the Orient goal.

Peter Kitchen might have doubled the lead as he battled his way through a posse of defenders only to see his final drive knocked away for a corner.

From an angled centre Peter Bennett headed the ball against the bar and Kitchen, standing three yards out, managed to nod the rebound straight at goal-keeper Healey.

Cardiff still never really looked like scoring, while Nigel Grady nearly added to the Orient score with a couple of shots which flew just wide.

So Orient's do-or-die effort was completed in impressive style and although at the final whistle the scoreline remained a tight-looking 1-0, the corner kick count of 16-3 in the O's favour told the story of just how much on top the East London team had been. Jimmy Bloomfield celebrated their survival by revealing that he had signed a new five-year contract with the club. He had returned to supervise their fight to stay up after being hospitalised for ten weeks following an abdominal operation.

After four-and-a-half years of donning the goalkeeper's jersey at Brisbane Road, John Jackson was on his way to the United States to join California Surfs and said: "We are really delighted to have done it, but I just wish that we wouldn't leave things so late."

Orient team: J.Jackson; H.Fisher; W.Roffey; A.Grealish,P.Hoadley; G. Roeder;D.Clarke; S.Gray; P.Bennett; P .Kitchen; J.Mayo.