Dean Cox insists he is determined not to have the same feeling again after suffering play-off disappointment for the second time in three seasons.

The former Brighton & Hove Albion winger fired the O’s to a win at Coventry City on Saturday but it was not enough to maintain their top-six hopes.

Orient narrowly missed out on the play-offs two years ago in Cox’s first campaign with the club and he suffered more anguish this time after coming up just short again.

Cox said: “We’re bitterly disappointed of course being so close. The first year I was here it felt the same as well but what can you do?

“People can look back at results that maybe we could have got points out of, such as Scunthorpe and Colchester away, and even if we got one win out of two it might have been enough. But you can say that about any sort of game where we’ve not picked up points.

“On the positive side we’ve got a good group and to come so close in some respects, it is good experience, because you don’t want to have this feeling again. Unfortunately I’ve got this feeling again for the second time in three years and it’s gutting. I can’t hide it to be honest and it’s bitterly disappointing but that’s two wins on the spin and we’d like to finish off with three out of three at Brisbane Road on Saturday.”

Cox added: “We’ve tried our best and no-one wants to lose games. We’ve given it a real good go this season and were unlucky just to fall short.

“From last year, if you told the fans they were going to be a point off the play-offs then I think they’d have laughed in your face. All credit to the lads for the character and how they dug out this season.”

Orient made their usual slow start to the season and for many fans avoiding relegation was their primary goal.

Although Cox never envisaged a battle against the drop, he admitted there are plenty of reasons to be positive after finishing above bigger clubs such as the Sky Blues.

The 25-year-old said: “To be fair some of the Orient fans I spoke to said let’s make sure we avoid relegation. I don’t think I’ve thought about it. I know we had a bad start but we were never going to get relegated because we’ve got such a good group.

“We fell short of the play-offs but at least we haven’t been dragged towards the bottom four. If we finish strongly on Saturday and get the win we’ll finish seventh in the league which is a credit to us. We’re going to be above teams like MK Dons and Coventry so the club is going forward.”

Orient’s win at the Ricoh Arena was their 21st of the season in the league and their eighth away from home.

Goalscorer Cox said: “It’s great. You can see the size of the stadium and the fanbase they’ve got here so to come here with the bare bones and put on a performance like that where everyone grinded it out, we’re delighted with that.

“I think you can see the difference that people who haven’t played that much have come in and done a great job. Competition for places is really high at the moment, even in such a small squad. It’s a great victory but we’re disappointed that we haven’t got our dream of getting in the play-offs.”