O’s left-back Joe Widdowson was full of praise for team-mates Josh Koroma and James Brophy after their respective performances in Leyton Orient’s draw with Tranmere Rovers on Saturday.

Koroma and Brophy were two of three changes made to the starting line-up at the weekend, with the latter making his first appearance since joining the O’s permanently from Swindon Town in January, and both played an influential role in helping Orient pick up a point.

Speaking to Leyton Orient’s website after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Tranmere, Widdowson said: “Both did really well. Josh (Koroma) has really stepped up and improved in the last few weeks and he’s taken his chance when the gaffer has called upon him. (James) Brophy was here before and we know what he can do. He’s lightning quick and give him the ball and he can cause havoc. I think both of them were really sharp and bright today and did well.”

Fourth place Tranmere arrived at Brisbane Road in good form prior to Saturday’s match, losing just one of their last nine in the league, but it was the O’s who started the better, with Jake Caprice and Ebou Adams seeing efforts go just wide.

However, it was the visitors who took the lead thanks to Ritchie Sutton’s close range header just before half-time, but Micky Mellon’s men were pegged back when the O’s equalised through Dan Holman seven minutes after the restart.

O’s stopper Dean Brill made some excellent saves in the second half to preserve a point for Justin Edinburgh’s men, which Widdowson feels was a fair result.

The left-back said: “They’re a good team and they have been doing well of late, so I think overall a draw was a fair result. We both had chances. I think in the first half, we were the better of the two teams. It was disappointing to go in 1-0 down at half-time. But I thought we responded really well in the second half, got a good equaliser and then after that, it was a bit end-to-end and both teams had chances to win it.”

With Brophy returning and the signings of Sam Ling and Nathan Mavila over the last week, the O’s now have plenty of competition for places, which Widdowson believes can only be a good thing for the National League side going forward.

He said: “It’s great. Jobi (McAnuff) has had a slight injury today and he’s been different class this season. Then you’ve got people like Brophy who can come in and do a great job and still carry that threat. So it’s great to have options especially going forward. You want different options and for people to come in and do a good job which they did today.”