New Leyton Orient manager Richie Wellens sang the praises of Aaron Drinan after the striker ended his 15-game goal drought with a brace in a 3-0 win at Harrogate and ended the O's long wait for an away league victory.

Drinan took his season’s tally to 15 following a second-half double in North Yorkshire, with Ruel Sotiriou going on to wrap up the points and make it back-to-back victories following Saturday's 3-1 success against Rochdale.

The three points also ended the O's longest run without an away league triumph since 1997, a sequence dating back 14 games to mid-September.

On the former’s contribution, an impressed Wellens said: “I like him. You can work on a press with him.

“He never stops running and every run is a sprint. I think his enthusiasm is infectious for us up there.”

Despite the Os failing to score a first-half goal for a tenth consecutive away game, Wellens also felt it was the opening 45 minutes that “wore” the hosts down and paved the way to secure three points after the interval.

“I thought the first half was a very, very comprehensive performance from us in terms of moving the ball and making them run around,” the former Doncaster manager declared. “Our shape also looked good and, at times, they couldn’t get near us.

“The only thing that was missing is that we didn’t score. Then, I’ve been in pretty similar situations before where the home team go in and get a rollicking and then give it a right good go for the next 15 or 20 minutes when they come out for the second half.

“I didn’t want our mentality to change and football’s a funny game because, even though we didn’t start the second half as well, we found ourselves 2-0 up pretty early on. But I think it was the first-half performance that wore them down and affected their belief.

“The final result could have been 10-5 though because they hit the post and bar and we hit the post twice.”