It is an understatement to say that Easter has not gone to plan for the O's.

Going into Good Friday, a win against Accrington would have given us realistic hopes of snatching the last automatic place in League Two, however at 4.50pm on Easter Monday O's fans were left scratching their heads after a second defeat in four days had seen Orient not take advantage of Wycombe's inability to win and move into the play-off places.

Coming out of Easter, the big questions raised were, should Kevin Nolan be starting and why aren't we scoring?

Firstly, Kevin Nolan is a quality player, we all know that. For some reason at the moment on the pitch things aren't working for Kevin. Maybe he isn't fit? Maybe he is carrying an injury? Maybe his mind is on tactics and management and he can't focus on the game?

Whatever is going on, Kevin needs to take a step back and think about whether he should select himself, or whether players like Lloyd James, Jack Payne or Sammy Moore should start ahead of him.

It would do himself no harm to select himself on the bench and give James a chance who has looked good on his recent return to the team. It would also give Kevin a chance to observe the game from the sidelines and 'manage' the team. Lloyd is always looking for the forward pass and offers us something different from our other midfielders.

In terms of an attacking force under Nolan we have found it harder to score. Jay Simpson under Ian Hendon was scoring for fun, but under Nolan he has found it far harder to score.

The diamond formation under Hendon seemed to work to Simpson's strengths as he clocked up his goal tally, but in a straight 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 Jay has found goals harder to come by. The speed of play has tended to be slower, which doesn't seem to suit Jay's style of play. Perhaps the return of Paul McCallum or Dean Cox will change this.

Both Armand Gnanduillet and Ollie Palmer have had games where they have looked decent in attack alongside Jay, but at the moment they are not consistent enough in front of goal.

Apart from Jobi McAnuff who has come up with a few vital goals the midfield have not produced a significant amount of goals. A midfield with Dean Cox in would obviously produce more goals and we have been unlucky to lose him this season, but we should still have enough quality at this level to be scoring more from the midfield.

Additionally, we have to mention Sean Clohessy's crossing recently. He started the season so well at right-back, bombing forward and putting quality crosses in the box, but over the last month or so his crosses have been poor and there have been two instances where he has been shouting at fans in the South Stand. Credit must be given to Sean as he is getting himself into great situations, his final ball needs improving though and we are all willing him to do it.

We have seven games left to save our season and the play-offs can be reached. Amazingly we are only two points behind Wycombe in seventh place who have the final play-off spot.

All our remaining games look winnable and are against the following teams, and if we win all of them and go undefeated we will be there:

York away - 2nd April

Barnet away - 9th April

Dagenham & Red home - 16th April

Plymouth home - 19th April

Wimbledon away - 23rd April

Mansfield home - 30th April

Yeovil away - 7th May

You would have to say that the next three games we have to win, with two of them being against the bottom two teams in the division.

Plymouth and Wimbledon will be stern tests, but when we have been playing away to the higher teams in this division under Nolan we have done well and Plymouth have been out of form over the last few weeks so we could beat them at home on a Tuesday night.

If we are still in the play-off hunt with two games left then Mansfield at home and Yeovil away should be winnable, and with a large and vocal crowd behind the O's we can carry them over the line.

Looking at the table seventh looks like the realistic position and it will be either us or Wycombe taking the final play-off spot. Looking at Wycombe's last three fixtures they face Portsmouth (6th), Accrington (4th) and Oxford (2nd) so they have a pretty tough run in!

Also don't forget from Saturday we will have Jobi McAnuff and Callum Jahraldo-Martin available, and after the weekend Mathieu Baudry will be available for selection again after his suspension.

We also have Shaun Brisley to return from his recent injury and he has looked very good since his arrival on loan from Peterborough.

As we have mentioned James has just returned to the squad and if McCallum and Cox can get back in the squad in time for the last two or three matches of the season or the play-offs then you just never know.

If we win on Saturday against York and Wycombe lose then we are back in the play-off spots and the table could look completely different.

We can do this...

Kev you can do this...

We believe in you and support you...

SAVE OUR SEASON!

Up the O's!

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