A win is a win and despite being on the point of going out of the tournament on Tuesday night, we just about edged this tie and who knows - this triumph could kick-start our season.

I am sure many an Orient fan would have been expecting big things from the team in this new term - especially as - for once - the bookies weren't tipping us for the drop.

Perhaps the weight of expectancy put too much pressure on the players last weekend - plus new signings still finding their feet - and - to be fair - Chesterfield thoroughly deserved what was an extremely rare win in east London.

So, it was arguably fitting that the O's should travel almost the breadth of the country to a place where they, themselves, have always found it hard to win.

At 2-0 up, the O's - especially with Dean Cox coming off the bench and pulling the strings - we did look very much like the side that could have been playing Championship football in this new season.

However, it is often said that a two-goal lead is the most dangerous lead in football - and so it proved at Home Park.

Therefore, to say we got out of jail might be a little harsh, but once Plymouth had twice achieved parity either side of Romain Vincelot's header - we struggled and had keeper Gary Woods working overtime to ensure we stayed in contention to make it into the hat for the next round.

Then, with the Wembley play-offs shoot out still fresh in our memories, the last thing we would have wanted was penalties - and with former Argyle man, Gary Sawyer, fluffing his kick, it looked very much like déjà-vu.

Fortunately with Mathieu Baudry going some way to atone for his Wembley miss and Woods again coming up trumps when the kicks had gone to sudden death, we can now look forward and hope the season is up and running - although there is the small matter of two long-haul trips to Oldham and Bristol City that will no doubt both provide sterner tests than the other night in south Devon.

Up the O's,

Keep the faith.