Leyton Orient assistant manager Ross Embleton insists talk of the title is premature despite the O’s moving four points clear at the top of the National League with victory over Chesterfield.

Goals from Josh Koroma, man-of-the-match Marvin Ekpiteta and Macauley Bonne saw off a spirited Spireites outfit and, coupled with Salford City’s defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge, extended the O’s lead at the summit.

Embleton though, was conscious that the O’s cannot afford to become complacent and must instead view the busy Christmas schedule as a way of strengthening their grip on the sole automatic promotion place.

“Obviously it is nice at any stage of the season to have that little bit of a gap between your rivals,” Embleton said.

“It’s nice to be able to look at the table and see that we’ve got that little bit of breathing space but the most important thing off the back of that is that we don’t take that for granted.

“We need to strive to make that gap bigger, make it more comfortable as often as we can.”

Orient face the unusual situation of playing Dagenham twice, first away on Boxing Day and then at home on New Years’ Day, and they have shown signs in recent weeks that their turbulent start to the campaign is behind them.

Just as Salford were beaten by Chesterfield a fortnight ago, the unpredictable nature of the National League was in evidence again when Orient’s nearest title challengers came unstuck against the Daggers.

And while victory against Chesterfield was undoubtedly the perfect Christmas present for Orient, Embleton expects a tough examination when they make the short trip to Dagenham.

“If you look at this season there has been one or two teams that have had a rocky start to the season and then all of a sudden we start planning our preparations towards them and they start nicking a result and string a few together,” Embleton said.

“I think Dagenham’s start to the season has probably given people a different impression of what they’re actually capable of.

“They’ve made some good signings themselves – I know the boy Balanta has gone in from Boreham Wood and made a real impact there – and their run of form and results has gone alongside his signing.

“They’re a different proposition to I think what everybody expected to see after their start to the season and we’ve got to come up against them twice in a short space of time.”

Meanwhile, the O’s strength in depth has been well documented, too, but the loss of James Dayton to a long-term injury has thrust the focus back on whether Justin Edinburgh should reinforce his squad in January.

It comes in the same week as promotion contenders Salford and Solihull Moors made big acquisitions but Embleton believes any new additions in E10 must have the right mentality and character.

He said: “There will be other little areas that we might need to tweak or add or improve in terms of making us that little bit stronger to go toe to toe with what the rest are going to do in January.

“It has to fit in with the way that we want to try and play, it has to fit in with the type of characters, the type of people we want in there.

“There has been a lot made about the strength of character and together. We don’t want to jeopardise that by bringing in the wrong characters.”