Ross Embleton admitted his frustration after Leyton Orient conceded a stoppage time equaliser against Ebbsfleet United.

The O’s were leading going into injury time thanks to James Brophy’s first-half strike, but Justin Edinburgh’s men had to settle for a point in the end after Corey Whitely scored at the Breyer Group Stadium once again to seal Ebbsfleet a point.

A draw was perhaps a fair result, with Ebbsfleet making most of the early running in the first half, but Orient did have chances to wrap up the victory towards the end, with Josh Koroma and James Alabi both missing presentable opportunities.

Having come so close to sealing their first victory of the season, assistant coach Embleton couldn’t hide his frustration after the full-time whistle.

He said: “It’s very frustrating to finish the game in the manner which we did today. I thought it was a proper game of football and it was as good and as competitive game of football that you will see at this level this season. For it to end in the manner that it did leads to huge frustration.

“But I think what we have to do is try to take a positive from that before we talk about the rest of the game. But losing three points to one point in the latter stages of the game, you have to try and turn it on its head because we were the ones sitting in the changing rooms so jubilant after scoring so late away to Salford.”

Orient started slowly, with Ebbsfleet’s Darren McQueen racing through on goal within the opening seconds, and they were dealt a blow when influential centre-back George Elokobi limped off after two minutes.

Goal-scorer Brophy also had to be withdrawn due to injury in the second half and Embleton offered injury updates on the duo after the match.

He said: “I haven’t sat down with him (Elokobi). I think the good thing was that George managed to stay out here and watch the game with the boys, so he obviously wasn’t in a huge amount of discomfort. Hopefully that’s a good sign.

“But it looks like a hamstring injury. That was the information that we got from the physio as he went onto the pitch at that moment. It’s a huge shame to lose anybody, but to lose someone of George’s status and stature in the position that he’s in is a huge blow.

“James has suffered with some little niggles in the last ten days before the season started. We all know that it’s a long season. We want to see players with the level of quality that James has got on the pitch.

“But we have to be careful to try and ease them back. I think he got to 60/65 minutes tonight and he started to run out of steam.”