Leyton Orient boss Russell Slade praised the contribution of hat-trick hero Shaun Batt after he fired the O's to a 3-1 win at Gillingham in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.

Orient were one game away from Wembley in the competition last season but they are up and running in the JPT this year after Batt's clinical finishing eased the League One leaders through to the second round.

Slade said: "He worked tirelessly for the hat-trick and to be honest he's got it inside 65 minutes which is fantastic because he was only going to stay on for 65 to 70 minutes and then we dragged him off obviously because he got really tired.

"It was a fantastic contribution. I thought we did very well for the second goal. It was a great run down the side by Mo [Odubajo] and then real determination from Shaun to get in the box and finish it off."

The O's have a small squad and only brought in teenage striker Jayden Stockley on loan from Bournemouth on transfer deadline day. Stockley made his debut this evening and Slade insists he can cope with limited playing resources.

When asked if he had concerns over the size of the squad, Slade said: "I hope not and I can't do anything about that anyway. It is what it is and we'll crack on with our little group. I think there are one or two little minor injuries in there but I hope there wasn't anything too serious because it was quite a bruising second half."