Ross Embleton was never likely to rock the Justin Edinburgh boat when asked about what his new(ish) boss has brought to Leyton Orient six weeks on from his appointment.

But his rationale for speaking so highly of the club’s manager - who has won five of his nine games in charge so far- is well-evidenced, makes a lot of sense and, most importantly, is a welcome listen to anyone who wishes the O’s well.

“Anyone can have a plan, but it’s how you put it across to the players,” the Orient assistant, who also served under predecessor Steve Davis, told the Guardian Series.

“We’ve become a team that’s a lot more difficult to play against. There was a real focus when Justin came in about becoming more aggressive out of possession and that was how he laid the law down.

“In the back of their minds the players know when we do the dirty stuff, we have got good enough players to produce the goods going forward.

“From a selfish point of view it’s been really good to learn from. Because he knows the division well, it’s more about the league and what’s happens from a team perspective on how we can impose ourselves on the opposition, and be more nasty and capable of keeping clean sheets.”

Earlier in the season a postponement would have at least been a week off from disappointment, in the midst of a run of one win in 17.

But now, with a single defeat in their last eight games, things are looking up, even though the O’s still sit only two places above the relegation places.

They could have put further distance between themselves and the bottom four, and leapfrogged their opposition on the day, Halifax Town, with a sixth win in 10.

Madly, they would have put themselves 13 points off an improbable play-off push, too, but Embleton will settle for just looking up the league at this stage.

“We’ve got to look up with the way things are going,” he said. “We were trying to be positive with the players even when things weren’t going so well earlier in the season, and now we have turned a corner with the new manager, it’s important to continue to have aspirations.

“Then you don’t know what you can achieve. We’re still in the FA Trophy, and that has become a little bit more important after the season we have had, although it was always important to us. It all stands us in good stead.

“If you go on a good run, you never know where that can lead you.”