Steve Davis refused to rule out making further additions to his Leyton Orient squad having hinted that a big, direct centre forward may be what the O’s need to unlock National League defences moving forward.

The Orient manager recognised the lack of chances his side created during Saturday’s opening-day defeat at Sutton United and believes signing a different type of striker will not only equip him with more options, but give him something that was missing during their 2-0 loss at Gander Green Lane.

He said: “We’ve tried the last couple of weeks to identify that particular player. Most teams in this league will have a big, strong, powerful lad up front and I think we’ve got to try to get that type of player in for those sort of games.”

Davis though refused to blame the 3G pitch, which Orient are also set to encounter at Bromley and Maidstone, as a contributing factor in his side leaving Sutton empty handed on Saturday.

But adding another option and providing greater versatility up front cannot be a bad thing, especially if the O’s boss wants to have the option of playing route one football away from home or in future games on 3G surfaces.

“There are going to be a lot of long balls and they press you high. It’s very hard to play out from the back, not just on the surface [switching from 3G to grass] but also in the way teams set-up.

“We’ve got to find another way and [Saturday] outlined the importance of having a big striker up there so we can build up the pitch.”

One of the biggest headaches for Davis will come in the shape of match-day 16 selections.

He notably left Tristan Abrahams out of the line-up for the trip to Sutton and a reduction in the number of substitutes to five, down from the Football League limit of seven, means the Orient manager will have to be shrewder in who he omits and who he selects.

“You’ve got to think of positional changes and players that can play more than one position,” Davis admits.

“It’s more helpful having them on the bench than those that can’t. Now that we’ve played these sort of teams who play this way we know what we’ve got to put out against them.”

Sutton’s performance combined a direct approach with stronger centre-forward play. O’s favourite Dave Mooney, disallowed goal aside, and fellow new signing Macauley Bonne were kept quiet by an organised United defence that marshalled them for long periods.

Orient will be better for the experience having been dealt a harsh introduction to life in the National League. Davis even alluded to his side being bullied by a Sutton team that was more dominant aerially than the O’s.

He said: “We won very little in the air, and everything we did pump forward came back. It’s something we highlighted a couple of weeks ago and hopefully we can bring that type of player in.”