It’s remarkable to think that prior to this campaign, Dean Brill hadn’t played a minute of competitive first team football for over two seasons.

A serious knee injury sustained during his time at Inverness Caledonian Thistle disrupted his progress, keeping him on the side-lines for a season and resultant moves to Motherwell and Colchester proved to be disappointing, with the 32-year-old never getting a chance to showcase his credentials.

It seemed like his playing days were over when he joined Leyton Orient as the club’s goalkeeping coach in the summer, but it’s fair to say the former Luton Town man has found a new home at Brisbane Road and the O’s stopper is thrilled to be back playing again.

Speaking to the Guardian Series last week, Brill said: “I was up in Scotland. I was doing really well up in Scotland and I picked up a big injury on my knee and missed the whole season, having got back fit at the end of the said season.

“I then moved on and I didn’t really get a chance in my first real season back after the injury at Motherwell, which was the club I moved to. Then my family relocated back down south and I was lucky enough for Colchester to take me in there. I didn’t really get a game for them so it was two tough seasons, considering since probably the age of 17, I’ve played almost regularly season after season, so it was tough to miss out.

“When the gaffer said to me about playing here, there was no question in my mind what I wanted to do.”

Since stepping into the side against Solihull Moors in December, Brill has proven himself to be a dependable figure in goal, keeping seven clean sheets in the league so far.

While Brill is delighted to be back playing again, it has proven to be a difficult season for Orient on the pitch, with the club currently languishing in 17th place in the table, eight points from the drop zone.

The O’s were dumped out of the FA Trophy two weeks ago after a 3-2 defeat to Gateshead in a quarter-final replay, having squandered a 3-0 lead at Brisbane Road in the final 20 minutes of the first tie, and Orient are currently in the midst of a five game winless run in all competitions.

However, Brill says the team are determined to finish the season as strongly as possible, so they can build momentum ahead of a promotion bid next campaign.

He said: “We want to finish strongly. We think it is important that we’ve got 10 games now to build on the success since the gaffer has come in, because if you look at the record since the gaffer has come in, results have picked up and we’ve strengthened in areas and we are now getting a more settled group.

“I think it’s important that you finish the season strongly so that when you come back for pre-season, you’ve got that mentality to continue what we had and build on that. If we can keep the form and add to it, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be looking to achieve promotion next season.”