Assistant coach Ross Embleton praised the impact of Leyton Orient substitutes Dale Gorman and James Alabi, after the O’s extended their unbeaten start to the season with a 3-1 win over Barnet.

Gorman and Alabi replaced Josh Koroma and Charlie Lee on the hour mark, with Alabi’s pace particularly causing Barnet’s defence plenty of problems as the game drew to a close.

On another day, the striker could have had two goals to his name as well, while Gorman’s passing caught the eye as second half strikes from James Dayton and Macauley Bonne secured Orient the win.

The likes of Dayton, Craig Clay as well as Jobi McAnuff also excelled in what proved to be an excellent afternoon for the East London side, but Embleton was quick to praise Orient’s substitutes for their role in the victory.

He said: “It’s been something that’s been repeated a number of times already this season. Whatever the motive has been from the bench in terms of the decisions the gaffer has made, the boys have come on and executed it.

“I know they drive each other on and it’s something we are always talking about with it being a squad game. Listening to the boys in the warm up and pre-match everyone is urging each other to have the right attitude.

“There are good players who are missing out on a place in the squad at the moment, but their motivation has been right. Dale Gorman and James Alabi deserve huge credit for coming on and turning that game today.

“James probably hasn’t performed to the levels that he would’ve wanted, but one thing we keep saying to him is that the bare minimum is to come on, make an impact and ruffle people up as he’s a big boy. We know he can unsettle teams, whether he starts or whether he comes off the bench, and he did that perfectly. I say perfectly, but to cap it off with a goal would have been perfect for him.

“At the same time, Dale Gorman got us ticking that little bit quicker and he gave us that freshness and edge with his passing to get us moving a bit quicker than we were in the first half.”

Barnet came into the game at the Breyer Group Stadium as one of the form sides in the National League, having won their last five matches in the division.

They fell behind early on to Josh Coulson’s close range effort, but were back on level terms just before the half-hour mark thanks to Wes Fonguck’s expert volley which flew into the top corner.

But for any side looking to gain promotion, beating potential title contenders is always key and Embleton felt the O’s went from strength to strength as the game went on.

He said: “They’ve been on a very good run and it’s a big club in this league. They’re somebody everyone’s expecting to be in and around the top of the league by the end of the season. Credit to them for the run they’ve been on but we started well today.

“We were fairly comfortable in possession but knew at half-time that we needed to take it up a notch and I thought we did that in the second half. We went from strength to strength really.”