11:00am Thursday 2nd September 2010
THERE was no relish from Russell Slade last night after his Orient side dumped out of the JPT Cup the club which sacked him, last year.
It was a dream first return for the Orient boss to the Withdean Stadium, and his summer signing Dean Cox also scored against the club at which the midfielder was left to rot in the stands, last season.
"I have great memories of the place, I had some great times here" said Slade, after the Johnstone's Paint Trophy round one win.
"But, we all move on in time and the game took place and obviously we have come out with a really positive result."
The warm reception given to him by home fans last night showed the high regard Slade is held in at the south coast club.
Cox also had refused to rub it in after he put Orient 1-0 up on 21 minutes, spurning celebrations to jog back to the halfway line.
"Our first goal took a slightly fortunate deflection in all fairness, but Cox’s next strike has hit the underside of the crossbar – that did deserve to go in the back of the net," reflected Slade.
"In all, he could have had a brace. But, he’ll be delighted he managed to get on the scoresheet.
"Jarvis’s goal was a really sweet header. Matt Spring put in a great ball and Ryan got in front of his marker and scored.
"And we had a wonderful opportunity to get a third goal, but we tried to walk it in. However, we had to be resolute at the back as that was a strong Brighton side we played tonight.
They wanted to get through the competition like ourselves. It was a good, competitive game from that point of view."
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