It has to be said that ‘Eric Morecambe week’ at the Orient turned out a highly satisfactory one for all concerned at Brisbane Road.

A hard earned point at Luton, followed by all three at the seaside on Saturday certainly gave reasons to be optimistic for the long winter ahead. (For younger readers Eric Morecambe was half of a comedy duo along with Ernie Wise who were big in the seventies, Eric being a director at Luton and he was born in Morecambe).

If the rumours are true, Ian Hendon has been a bit disillusioned with the apparent negative content of a certain local newspaper about his team recently, including the views of supporters within it. But, Ian, if you’re reading this I can assure you that it is safe to read on.

I’ve got a good track record with our management, and haven’t upset any Leyton Orient manager since I asked Jimmy Bloomfield a silly question on a Radio London phone in in 1979 and that’s not about to change now.

Indeed, Ian, I think you are doing a sterling job having inherited a right mess after last season’s Matchroom circus.

We were initially impressed when we all turned up at the ‘Meet the Manager’ evening to discover we had someone in charge who could speak our language, clearly an important step in the right direction for our club, and after some shrewd signings, to be top of the league after five games was a remarkable achievement.

We all knew of course that we were Leyton Orient so the season would not be one long bed of roses and so it’s proved since September.

However, having experienced three 5-1 home defeats in the space of two months in 1982, holding up the other 91 Football League teams in 1999 and having John Sitton as joint manager in ‘95 we are all used to witnessing a little pain at Brisbane Road. (For younger readers John Sitton was part of a comedy duo along with Chris Turner who were big at Leyton Orient in the mid-nineties).

There appears to be mixed views regarding Hendon among fans at our club. Whereas for much of his four years in charge everybody loved Russell Slade. For all of his time at the helm however, there was universal dislike, for some strange reason, for Fabio Liverani. By contrast our current boss seems to divide opinion down the middle.

On the train back from Morecambe, though happy with the three points earned, it was clear many are yet to be convinced by Hendon. We had after all just witnessed what we agreed was a shocking game of football and had had barely a shot on target all afternoon.

The goal was fortunate, resulting from an attempted clearance, Alex Cisak was much the busier of the two keepers and indeed generally regarded on the way back to London as man-of-the-match.

There was much bafflement at the exclusion from the entire squad of Dean Cox that afternoon.

A player good enough to be the League Two Player of the Month in August, yet considered not up to even warming the bench some two months later.

You cannot argue the gamble paid off, however, as Hendon got the result and it could be that the kick up the back side was something our Deano needed for the rest of the season ahead.

There were more than a few other grumbles too.

Many are unhappy with the size of the squad, yet we remain firmly in a play-off spot just two points behind second place.

I for one would have taken that at the beginning of August.

Hendo certainly appears to be getting the best out of some in the team, notably Jay Simpson. To have the leading scorer in the country playing for us when the clocks have gone back is a strange concept for us.

There’s probably as much chance of him ending the season in the same position as there is of Jobi McAnuff winning Player of the Year in May, but for now let’s make the most of having a forward who knows where the goal is.

When we had just passed Watford news broke on coach A that the Charlton manager had just been given the boot, which made you realize things could be a lot worse at the moment at Brisbane Road.

We’d all had a long, cold but ultimately successful day in the north-west, though we all agreed Morecambe away would not be a tie we wanted in the FA Cup draw.

For Saturday at least it had been a case of ‘bring me sunshine’ for the Orient.

Up the O’s.