Sam Sargeant says he is determined to dislodge Dean Brill as Leyton Orient’s number one, as he aims to repay the faith the O’s have shown in him after signing a new contract earlier this week.

The young goalkeeper put pen-to-paper on a two-year deal at the Breyer Group Stadium yesterday having made 19 appearances for the club in all competitions, three of which coming last campaign.

Sargeant joined the club as a scholar from Millwall and made his first-team debut for the O’s back in May 2016 when Orient beat Yeovil Town 1-0 away from home.

He spent the second half of last season on loan at Leatherhead in the Bostik Premier League, but was restricted to just a handful of appearances due to injury and his existing deal with the O’s was set to expire this summer.

Having put pen-to-paper on a new contract, Sargeant is now determined to repay the faith Orient have shown in him and the 20-year-old says he will always be grateful to the club for the confidence they have instilled in him since his release from Millwall four years ago.

Speaking about his new deal, he said: “I’m delighted to get it finalised and for it to be sorted out. It’s something I wanted throughout the season. I wanted to stay at this club because I feel like it is going places. Now it is done, I can spend the next couple of weeks really focusing on working to come back in pre-season as strong and as fit as possible.

“It was the only thing I wanted. I’ve been at this club for four years now, two as a scholar and two as a professional. It’s really helped me in my path to making a career in the game.

“I was released by Millwall and I was really struggling as my confidence was extremely low. I came here and the coaching staff at the time and the people around the club really helped to bring me back to the level that I needed to be. My confidence went from zero to 100 and I really started kicking on. I was achieving stuff every season which I really wasn’t expecting to achieve.

“It’s a club which has a big place in my heart and it’s a big part of my family as they love coming down on a Saturday. The only thing I wanted was to get a contract with Orient and I was never in doubt about signing the deal.”

Sargeant is currently behind Charlie Grainger and Brill in the pecking order at Brisbane Road, with the latter being swiftly installed as the O’s number one back in December shortly after Justin Edinburgh’s appointment as head coach.

While the 20-year-old was on loan at Leatherhead, Grainger acted as the club’s number two and young goalkeeper Arthur Janata also featured in the O’s match-day squads towards the end of the season.

But the Orient stopper does not want to be playing second fiddle to the likes of Brill and Grainger next campaign, with Sargeant having his eyes firmly set on becoming the club’s number one.

“Personally, my one and only aim is to play consistently and have that number one shirt,” he said.

“I will not settle for anything less. I will train as hard as I need to and I’ll do whatever I need to do to achieve that. That has always been my aim.

“I’m hoping that I can really show people who have maybe doubted me and my ability and prove to people who have supported me along this journey at Orient that I am ready and good enough to play for this great club. My aim is to help the club in the biggest way possible by playing and to help get this club back to where I feel it should be.

“I think the fans and everyone around the club should be very optimistic about the next season because I really do feel that it will be a good one. I feel that next season we have a chance of doing really well and I hope we can give the fans that as that is what they deserve.”