Marvin Bartley insists Orient will not be fearful of any of their opponents despite facing sides all pushing for promotion in their final four games.

The O’s are teetering just above the League One relegation zone heading into the final fortnight of the season.

Orient have the hardest run-in of any of the teams battling against relegation with matches against sides sitting third, fourth, fifth and seventh in the table.

Fabio Liverani’s side slipped up on Tuesday night after losing at home to a Doncaster Rovers team with little to play for in mid-table.

But Bartley maintains the team have nothing to be afraid of, starting with a trip to third-placed MK Dons on Saturday.

The O’s midfielder said: “They haven’t given up on automatic promotion but we can’t fear anybody. With four games to go at this stage of the season if you start fearing people then there’s no point going out there. We can’t fear anyone and on our day I think we can definitely turn it on.”

It does not get much easier after Saturday with a trip to Rochdale on Tuesday night, who are fighting for a play-off place, before finishing up with games against Sheffield United and Swindon Town.

When asked if it might be an advantage playing against teams that are also under pressure at the other end of the table, Bartley said: “You can look at it from that point of view and we have to look at the positives. Looking at it like that, maybe it will be easier but we’re fighting for our lives down there.

"We’ve got to out-fight teams regardless of what they are going for and where they are in the league. We’ve got to pick up points, it’s that simple.”

Orient are feeling the pressure themselves after a season of significant underachievement. Bartley admits the players feel responsible for the situation they are in and have to dig themselves out of this hole.

The 28-year-old said: “We feel under a fair deal of pressure because it’s our fault that we’re in this position. We as players have got us into this position and it’s not like we were all brought in during January and it wasn’t our fault before that. We’ve got ourselves into this position and now we have to get out of it. We do feel the pressure because we’ve forced ourselves to be in this predicament.”

Bartley has experienced the despair of relegation before with Bournemouth in 2008 but has also avoided demotion during his career and he is in no doubt about the attributes required in a survival battle.

He said: “I was unfortunate to get relegated at Bournemouth but it was in slightly different circumstances because we went into administration so we were playing catch up. I’ve also been in [a relegation battle] before and got out of it. There’s some experienced boys in there so we are trying to drag each other through it.

“Togetherness is the most important characteristic. Regardless of what happens off or on the pitch we have to stick together because if we don’t then it makes it harder. The lads have to stick together and keep battling for each other. The lads are all together and trying to pull in the same direction so we will get out of it.”

The winning goal for Doncaster on Tuesday was a familiar tale after the visitors scored from a set piece. It has been a recurring problem throughout Orient’s sorry season but they appear no nearer to resolving it.

Bartley said: “Obviously the boys are disheartened. I think our first-half play warranted at least one goal. It’s hard to take but the gaffer’s warned us at half time to be alert and they’ve gone and scored in the second half and we couldn’t claw them back at the end.

“I don’t know how many it’s been but conceding goals at any stage, whether it’s open play or a set piece, is a problem. I don’t know why we’re conceding from set pieces. I wish I did know because we’d put a stop to it but it's just a bit disheartening at the moment.”