A NUMBER of key players are in a race against time to be fit for Orient’s clash with Charlton Athletic this weekend.

Boss Russell Slade faces the prospect of fielding a patched-up backline.

The O's will be desperate to field a full-strength side in an attempt to avoid a repeat of last weekend’s 5-1 drubbing by Yeovil Town.

At Huish Park Orient’s defenders looked like strangers and Jason Crowe was cut adrift at left-back.

Now the club are sweating on the fitness of that position’s regular occupant, Charlie Daniels.

He is suffering from an ankle injury picked up last week, against Dagenham & Redbridge.

The club was only ‘hopeful’ this week of his chances of playing.

Also battling to regain full fitness is skipper Stephen Dawson.

The influential midfielder hobbled off with a dead leg last weekend at the Matchroom Stadium.

Centre-back Ben Chorley will also be keen to bury the memory of the Yeovil debacle.

The defender struggled on his return after a two-week absence with a knee injury.

There was little spark on show in his partnership with loan-man Adam Barrett.

Yeovil capitalised on uncertain defending by the pair of them, who at times looked unsure of who was meant to do what.

But Slade has voiced confidence that his players will bounce back against the Addicks on Saturday.

The 5-1 defeat was a 'freak result' which will serve to improve the team, he insisted.

He said: “We’ll try to learn from that and for it to make us better. There’s always lessons to learn.

“Of course, it will be a tough one at Charlton.”

Rampant Yeovil ran riot on the night, with Shaun MacDonald hitting a first-half hat-trick.

Key decisions by referee Geoff Eltringham also had an influence on proceedings.

He flashed a red card at Matt Spring with just 15 minutes on the clock, for his tackle on Andrew Welsh.

Spring now faces missing three games, though the club has appealed the decision.

Then Dawson had a harsh penalty given against him for handball, from which MacDonald scored his third.

“All Dawson did was protect his face. It was the harshest penalty in the world,” said Slade.

“The two decisions were key to an afternoon which you could not see coming.

“Nothing went right for us. But I don’t want that to paper over some of the defending, which I didn’t think was to our normal standards.

“We gave ourselves an absolute mountain to climb.”

Branding the result an 'absolute disaster', Slade found a positive to cling to in defender Terrell Forbes’ decent display off the bench.

Dean Cox scored on 70 minutes for the hosts.

But second-half goals by Welsh and Dean Bowditch compounded the misery MacDonald had inflicted before the break.

The Yeovil clash was the third game in a row without a win, after a draw with Dagenham and defeat at Brentford last week.

Orient cannot afford to lose more games during the run-in if they are capitalise on their current seventh position.