Orient’s eightsome reel

Inevitably, though, bigger clubs had come knocking on the door with tempting offers for a number of Orient's star players and the Brisbane Road club, saddled with an unhealthy overdraft, needed cash fast.

In the first week of November, Arsenal's cheque for £30,000 was just too good to resist and two of the O's most popular clubmen, Vic Groves and Stan Charlton, were transferred to the Highbury club.

Now came the acid test as to how the team would perform without two of their greatest assets.

A crowd of 13,518 turned up at Brisbane Road for the next home league match and it would be fair to say that the terraces were not buzzing with a great deal of optimism about the immediate future.

Visiting Palace nearly took the lead straight from the kick-off, when Stan Earl misjudged an awkward bouncing ball into the O's goalmouth but luckily centre-forward Deakin missed his connection just two yards from goal.

From the resulting clearance the ball swung out to right-winger Phil White who tore down the pitch and crossed a beauty for Mike Burgess to head against the bar. As the ball spun down, the keeper lost sight of it and then Facey was able to nod it home for Orient's opening goal in the second minute.

Just a couple of minutes later came goal number two when left-half McKnight lofted a free-kick into the Palace goal area. Keeper Roy Bailey dropped the ball under pressure from Ron Heckman and Pacey headed it to one side for Johnny "Rabbit" Hartburn to drive it in.

After 12 minutes Bailey saved a succession of shots but was injured in the process and forced to leave the field, with Palace right-back Choules taking over the goal-keeper's jersey.

He stopped a number of Orient efforts but had no chance at all in the 23rd minute when Facey flicked the ball through and Mike Burgess hit a glorious first-time left foot shot just inside the far post.

Phil White was next on to the scoresheet (34 mins), hammering home a great 20 yard angled drive, though apparently hemmed in by defenders.

Bailey then made a return for the Palace, but instead of going back into goal he was put upfront and led the attack until the half-time interval.

It was just a minute before the break that Ken Facey bulleted in a header, his second goal of the game, from a great Heckman cross, to put Leyton Orient five goals to the good at the 45 minute mark.

Palace keeper Roy Bailey was restored between the posts when the teams came out for the second half and within two minutes he had made three outstanding saves in quick succession from Facey, Burgess and Heckman.

Then it was Pat Welton's turn in the Orient goal to sparkle when he tipped a fine Jim Belcher shot round the post.

Shortly after this Phil Mc- Knight was fortunate not to concede a penalty when he body-checked Palace's George Cooper, but the referee waved play on.

In an exhilarating ten minute climax, Leyton Orient added three further goals to their tally.

Phil White's defence splitting pass initiated an easy close range tap-in effort from Mike Burgess, then Ken Facey brought his personal total up to three when he lashed in a fierce direct free-kick from the edge of the penalty area.

With only a minute to the finish, White and Heckman sliced the Crystal Palace defence wide apart and Johnny Hartburn, in acres of space, tucked home the last goal of the afternoon to make the final score 8-0 to Leyton Orient.

The good news came through that Ipswich Town had been pipped 3-2 over in West London by Brentford and Northampton Town had also been on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline at Norwich City.

These set-backs by two possible promotion rivals meant Leyton Orient were now league leaders, hoisted to the giddy heights of the Div 3 South summit.

The mood of the supporters was now definitely a lot more upbeat than it had been just before kick-off time, and as manager Alec Stock said after the game: "This is a day that you just dream about."

The Leyton Orient team was: Welton; Lee; Earl; Blizzard; Aldous; McKight; White; Facey; Burgess; Heckman; Hartburn.