Leyton Orient boss Fabio Liverani was pleased with his side's performance and spirit despite slipping closer to relegation following a 1-0 home defeat to Doncaster Rovers.

The O's dropped down to 20th in League One and are only outside the bottom four on goal difference after losing to mid-table Doncaster.

Orient appeared to run out of ideas during a poor second-half display but their manager still praised his team. 

Liverani said: "I have to say I'm pleased with the performance and the spirit the players put in. I'm very pleased with what they do in training and what they show me on the pitch despite making mistakes. 

"We are what we are in terms of numbers and injuries but I have to thank the players for their dedication in training and in the game."

Orient failed to get going in the second half and were punished when Rob Jones headed in the winner after 56 minutes. But despite Liverani admitting his side were not fluent towards the end he felt they had the opportunities to earn a point. 

The Italian said: "I think we played quite a good first half and had quite a few good chances to score. But then we conceded off a free-kick which we conceded quite stupidly and they scored from that occasion. 

"Even when we played in confusion in the last 20 or 30 minutes we still had chances to equalise but we didn't."