Leyton Orient eased to a 3-0 win at League One Colchester United in their latest friendly this afternoon to spark renewed optimism for the new season.

The O’s opened the scoring in the first half when the impressive Paul McCallum headed home. Orient extended their lead at the start of the second period with another McCallum header which took his tally to five goals during pre-season.

Ian Hendon's side added a third goal in the closing stages as substitute Scott Kashket raced through to score and wrap a dominant victory over their rivals.

Orient handed another chance for trialists Frazer Shaw and Connor Essam to earn a contract while former Cardiff City defender Danny Gabbidon was named on the bench. Sean Clohessy took the captaincy against his former club after Nathan Clarke’s decision to leave the club.

After a quiet opening 15 minutes, the O’s went close when Mathieu Baudry headed narrowly wide from Dean Cox’s free-kick.

Gary Woods was called into action when he was required to save Dion Sembie-Ferris’ low strike.

Orient went close again when Clohessy’s cross was headed past the post by McCallum.

The hosts almost opened the scoring when Richard Brindley’s cross struck the bar with Gary Woods well beaten.

Hendon’s side went close when Jay Simpson’s header was tipped over the bar by Elliot Parish.

But the League Two side opened the scoring just after the half hour mark when Clohessy’s cross was headed home by McCallum.

Former Wales international defender Gabbidon was introduced at the start of the second half in place of Essam. 

The visitors doubled their lead at the start of the second half when Bradley Pritchard’s cross was nodded in again by McCallum.

The O’s almost made it 3-0 when Dean Cox’s corner was headed against the bar by Baudry.

Hendon made three substitutions after the hour mark with former West Ham United goalkeeper Deniz Mehmet given the chance to impress as a trialist. Blair Turgott and Ollie Palmer also replaced Pritchard and Simpson.

Orient again hit the woodwork through Cox’s strike as the O’s continued to dominate the match.

The O’s made another change with Kashket replacing the excellent McCallum. Kashket made an immediate impact as he raced through and tucked the ball home to make it 3-0 to Orient.

Freddy Moncur got a chance to impress as he came on with just over ten minutes remaining in place of Cox. 

Hendon also introduced Sam Ling, Montel Agyemang and Sandro Semedo late on in place of Clohessy, Lloyd James and Sammy Moore. 

It was a convincing victory for the O's which suggests there are plenty of reasons for optimism with two weeks remaining until the season opener against Barnet. 

Colchester United: Parish (Walker, 70); Briggs (Vincent-Young, 74), Kent, Eastman, Brindley (Olufemi, 44); Moncur, Szmodics, Lapslie; Wright, Sembie-Ferris, Bonne

Leyton Orient: Woods (Mehmet, 62); Clohessy (Ling, 84), Essam (Gabbidon, HT), Baudry, Shaw; Cox (Moncur, 79), Pritchard (Turgott, 62), James (Semedo, 84), Moore (Agyemang, 84); Simpson (Palmer, 62), McCallum (Kashket, 75)