Leyton Orient fans would have been forgiven for blocking up their chimneys and tossing out the tinsel this festive season as three defeats in a row going in to Christmas left the O’s joint bottom of League One, ahead of Crewe Alexandra only on goal difference.

New manager Fabio Liverani, needing to overcome a language barrier the size of Hadrian’s wall, had seemingly had little impact on a squad bereft of confidence and was only adding to his tally of career defeats.

If decades of schmaltzy Hollywood movies are to be believed however, Christmas is a time for hope and Santa Claus, fittingly dressed head to toe in Orient red and white, duly delivered a sack full of precious points to the grateful inhabitants of E10.

A Boxing Day visit from Crawley would usually have been reason enough for O’s fans to hit the brandy. In four previous attempts Orient has never come away with so much as a point.

Whatever the Orient boys had with their sprouts the day before however seemed to give them an extra edge as the West Sussex side rarely threatened and four goals later, including a sublime free kick from Dean Cox to open the scoring inside ten minutes, the O’s had registered their second home win of the season.

More sloppy set-piece defending, allowing Orient old boy Jimmy Smith to scramble an equaliser, gave a reminder of the work still to do for Liverani on the training ground but it was a richly deserved win and an encouraging performance to boot.

If beating Crawley felt like a Christmas miracle, few would have felt it possible to follow it up with an away win at Yeovil. Despite the Somerset side floundering at the foot of the table, Orient hadn’t picked up three points at Huish Park for seven years and had failed to register back-to-back league wins since the final games of the 2013/14 season.

Confidence, however, is a funny thing. If three consecutive defeats can sap it, a 4-1 Boxing Day win will do the opposite and the return of talismanic veteran striker Kevin Lisbie to the starting line-up for the first time since August will only have galvanized the squad further.

Resilience is not something Orient have had in abundance this season but surviving first-half Yeovil pressure and nicking a goal before half-time showed exactly that. If that wasn’t enough for the chilly travelling support to cheer about, Lisbie netting on his return, a second goal in two games from Dean Cox and a clean sheet for the first time in two months capped a perfect night.

Despite shaking off the Yeovil away and Crawley hoodoos, it is perhaps premature to assume we are out of deep water just yet. Our last three league wins have come against three of the four teams that sit beneath us in the league.

When in a battle against relegation, and make no mistake, that is still the primary objective for the rest of the season, winning these games were crucial. What we also needed to see was an upturn in performance and, so far, the signs are encouraging.

Scott Cuthbert and Shane Lowry are providing a solid defensive foundation and Romain Vincelot and Josh Wright are a hard working midfield pairing, if lacking in a little bit of creativity. In attack we’re seeing what a run in the side can do for Chris Dagnall’s form.

The Liverpudlian put in a man of the match performance against Crawley, scoring twice, and got on the scoresheet again against Yeovil taking his tally to six this season and twelve in 22 league starts for Orient in total. Along with Cox, Dagnall has to be the first name on the team sheet.

With half of the season behind us and at least 25 more points required for safety, the hard work is far from over. If Liverani can keep his men motivated and hold on to his star players in the transfer window, as well as improve the squad where he can, our Merry Christmas may just turn into a Happy New Year after all.