Ling set to field a strong defence for Stevenage clash

11:33am Friday 1st August 2008

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ORIENT boss Martin Ling will name his favoured centre-half pairing for the first time during pre-season at Stevenage tomorrow.

Both Tamika Mkandawire and Alton Thelwell have been used sparingly so far this summer as they look to get over hernia and knee injuries respectively.

But the pair look set to start tomorrow's game at Broadhall Way, as the O's wrap up their pre-season campaign looking to get over their only defeat of the summer following Wednesday night's 5-1 thrashing by Premier League neighbours Tottenham.

He said: “I'm fairly pleased with the way the pre-season has gone so far, because other than the Spurs game we've been unbeaten.

“Of course we got punished during a 15 minute period in the second half when they scored four, and I think if you switch off against any team you will get punished let alone a Premier League side featuring international players.

“The game on the whole went well though and in the first half we competed against them and there was certainly some positives to take from the match.

“So we go to Stevenage now looking to perform to that level for the full 90 minutes.

“The real plus for me is that we will have a chance to look at Alton and Tam playing alongside each other for the first time during pre-season.

“It will also be a chance to give Brian Saah a bit of a rest, because he has played an awful lot of football so far.”

And Ling is relishing the chance to take on some familiar faces tomorrow, with Boro's squad featuring no less than four former Orient players.

He continued: “Of course in Asley (Bayes), John (Martin), Daryl (McMahon) and Iysden (Christie) there is some faces we regonise.

“I worked with all of them in some capacity during my time at the club so there is a strong connection there.

“They will probably be out to prove a point against us, although I would like to get one over them as well.”