Leyton Orient boss Omer Riza admitted the solution to ‘cancel’ the match and play the remainder, later on, came from the EFL.

Orient eventually lost 3-1 to Colchester United as goals from Tariq Fosu, Chris Porter and Macauley Bonne were enough to keep their charge on for the play-offs.

Sandro Semedo scored a beauty to make it 1-1 early on in the second half which saw Orient remain on top but it was not to be as a defensive error from Jens Janse gave the visitors the lead once again.

On the 85th minute, the O’s faithful deemed enough was enough and invaded the pitch to be told an hour later the match had been ‘cancelled.’ However, at 6:29pm, the players came back out onto the pitch and completed the remaining five minutes to send the three points back to Essex.

When asked about the decision-making process Riza said: “The EFL came down. They sat and spoke with the officials and the managers and said we had to come up with a plan, to make sure the game finished.

“No one wants to come back and play six, seven minutes next week so the only way we were going to disperse the fans was to say the game was cancelled. It was a solution the EFL came up with and we agreed.”

Orient have been relegated from the Football League for the first time in 112 years and have suffered two relegations in three years under owner Francesco Becchetti.

The fans decided to take this decision upon themselves to stage a peaceful protest against the Italian, the EFL and the FA as they feel not enough has been done to help them during their plight.

“When you think you have seen it all something else pops up,” said the 33-year-old. “It was strange but it is was it is. “ In the final six minutes, Orient past the ball around inside their own half while the Colchester players made no attempt for the ball.

Some even stood on the pitch with their hands behind the back as neither side showed much intent awaiting the full-time whistle.

When asked if an agreement for this to play out was in place before hand Riza said: “I spoke with John, their manager, and we said we would play normally.

“But I think the players went out there and decided to, maybe it was hard for them to warm up, to get back into the speed off the game, so they thought they would see the game out.”

However, the former Arsenal player thought it was right for the match to be finished rather than abandoned.

“That is the rules we had to abide by, if we did not finish the game off now we would have had to come finish it off next week for seven minutes again,” said Riza.

“That would not have been good for Colchester that would not have been good for the players or for us, so it was the right thing to wait for the pitch to clear and get it finished. I agree with that.”