Orient midfielder Jobi McAnuff was delighted to return to action against Eastleigh, after enduring a frustrating few weeks with injury.

The experienced winger, who signed a new one-year contract at Brisbane Road last month, made his first appearance for over six weeks at the weekend having picked up a nerve injury in Orient’s 4-3 win over Dover Athletic in the FA Trophy.

It has been a tough few weeks for the 36-year-old, whose injury has proven to be problematic, after he was initially diagnosed with a neck problem. But after further investigation, it became clear that the former Reading man had suffered a nerve injury and the Orient midfielder provided more of an insight after Saturday’s game.

Speaking to Leyton Orient’s website, McAnuff said: “At first, I was thinking it might just be a bit of a stiff neck and it would be a matter of days rather than weeks. But as we got a bit more information, it turned out to be a little more damaged than we first thought. But it’s just a matter of trying to get on top of that and I’ve been back training for about a week and a bit now, so it’s been good. It was nice to get back out there.”

McAnuff’s absence led to Josh Koroma enjoying an extended run in the Orient first team and the young winger has impressed in recent weeks, scoring a fantastic goal against Gateshead in the FA Trophy last month.

Koroma’s form clearly pleased O’s head coach Justin Edinburgh, who has praised the 19-year-old’s performances on a couple of occasions in his post-match interviews, and McAnuff is hopeful that the young academy graduate will be able to replicate his recent good form on a consistent basis.

He said: “He (Koroma) has done very well. I’ve been really pleased to see his progress and even now, coming on he was very lively and created some opportunities for us. He’s set himself a standard that he needs to maintain and go beyond.

“I think that’s the biggest challenge for us now. If people are out for whatever reason, the lads that come in have got to step up and if you are out, you’ve got to really fight to come back into the team. If we get that, then hopefully we’ll get that consistency that we’re going to need for the rest of this year and next year too.”