THE home hoodoo hanging over Orient so far this season could fast become a cause for concern if they fail to break it this weekend.

Geraint Williams' troops will be hoping to break their duck at Brisbane Road when they host newly-promoted Exeter City on Saturday.

The O's have picked up just one league point at the Matchroom Stadium this campaign and lost in extra-time to Premier League Stoke City in the Carling Cup.

They currently lie in 19th place in the League One table, level on points with their visitors, who hold an almost identical league record going into the game.

And Williams will certainly be hoping Friday's 3-0 defeat against rivals Southend United will not be symptomatic of performances to come.

His charges followed up an uninspiring first half with a dismal second to leave them without a League One win since the opening day, when they returned home from Bristol Rovers triumphant.

A second half hat-trick by the game's only stand-out player, Lee Barnard, secured maximum points for the Shrimpers, while the O's could take very little from their performance.

The home side took the lead close to the hour-mark when Barnard fired in a re-taken penalty, after he was hauled down by Steven Purches.

He headed unmarked into a gaping goal twenty minutes later and, in the 90th minute, his shot deflected off Luke Ashworth and nestled in the net behind wrong-footed keeper Glenn Morris for number three.

Afterwards, Williams described the second 45 minutes as 'very disappointing'.

He said: “I thought the turning point was the start of the second half. We never got out of the blocks.

“The first half was very even. We talked about how we were going to take the game to them second half and get on top, and we never got going at all.”

All the boss' major players had quiet games at Roots Hall, though Williams dismissed suggestions it was due to fatigue.

He said: “We prepared properly, we had a proper rest and recovery.

“We work hard when we work, but we gave them proper rest and there are no excuses for that second half.

“We had a good chat about them (the reasons for the poor second half performance) in the dressing room, and we will address them before our next game.

“We can't go out and perform like that, we are all agreed on that. We had a frank discussion and we are very very disappointed about the second-half performance.”