Caretaker boss Kevin Nugent praised the contribution of Jay Simpson after his brace fired Leyton Orient to victory at Dagenham & Redbridge last night.

Simpson produced his best performance for the O's as they booked their place in the third round of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. 

Nugent, who was again today linked with a move to join Russell Slade at Cardiff City, said: “It was an excellent performance. He got the two goals and hit the the post as well with a great strike.

"He’s a quality player and he needs to get minutes on the pitch and he will prove that throughout the season but it’s not been easy for everyone at the start of the season.”

Nugent claimed his first victory since taking charge of Orient following Slade's departure and was relieved to put a smile back on the fans' faces.

He said: "I’m really pleased and I thought it was a real pressure match for us tonight in a local derby against a team in the league below. We had to go out, win it and perform well and that’s exactly what we did.

“We were absolutely a whole team unit tonight. I thought there were some really good individual performances but collectively we really battled away.

“Possibly we could have a little bit more quality on the ball in the latter stages. We gave it away a little cheaply but the whole group dug in, battled and got the result to give our supporters something to shout about which was the most important thing.”