Ross Embleton believes James Dayton’s performances highlight Leyton Orient’s strength in depth after the midfielder’s match winning display against Barnet on Saturday.

Following an impressive start to life with the O’s, the tricky winger was forced to miss a large chunk of last season through injury and started this campaign on the bench, with Jobi McAnuff and James Brophy being preferred by Justin Edinburgh out wide.

However, Brophy’s injury against Maidstone United saw Edinburgh turn to Dayton and the former Cheltenham Town man has seized his opportunity with both hands, scoring the winning goal against Chesterfield at the start of the month.

Dayton’s impressive performances have continued since then and the 29-year-old played an influential role in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Barnet, scoring a lovely goal to put the O’s back in front.

The winger almost notched a second moments later against the Bees and created a number of opportunities for his team-mates down the right.

Embleton believes Dayton will always be a threat in games for Orient and praised the 29-year-old’s quality after his superb strike with 23 minutes remaining at the weekend.

He said: “I think James has always got that threat. He showed after he scored the goal that he can go on his right foot, so that puts that element of doubt that when he does chop back onto his favoured foot, it does get you into positions like that. It was fantastic execution to put it in the top corner.

“When we went away to Salford, James wasn’t in the starting line-up and he came off the bench. There was another couple of games early in the season where he perhaps didn’t get on and again it comes back to the same thing which is the quality of the squad.

“We’ve got James Brophy sitting in the stand. There’s huge competition and when you get your opportunity, it’s about taking it. You’re not going to play well every week but it’s about having an impact on the team and having an impact on the group to help us get a result.

“It’s a simple cliché to use about it being a squad game, but when your players are coming off the bench or coming from outside the squad into the team, they’ve got to perform well to stay in it.”

O’s defender Josh Coulson knows only too well about Dayton’s quality having played against the winger in training and believes the 29-year-old can be almost unplayable at times due to the positions he picks up.

When asked about Dayton’s goal, Coulson said: “Yeah that’s Dayts all over. I don’t know why they’ve let him onto his left foot as he’s got a bit of a wand but they did.

“We want him to do that more and sometimes you just can’t stop him. He pops up in holes that you don’t think he can pop up in so he’s good.”