Justin Edinburgh praised the impact of Leyton Orient’s substitutes following the O’s second half display against Hartlepool United.

It looked like it was going to be a testing final half an hour for Orient when Joe Widdowson was shown a straight red card by referee Adrian Quelch for a strong tackle on Hartlepool’s Michael Woods.

Many would have perhaps expected the O’s to go defensive in order to earn a hard earned point on home turf against fellow promotion rivals Hartlepool, but if anything, the East London side were in the ascendancy following Widdowson’s dismissal.

James Alabi, Jobi McAnuff and Marvin Ekpiteta all came close to opening the scoring as Orient pressed hard for the win, but it was James Brophy who had the chance of the game, when he could only poke wide after being played in by Craig Clay.

Dean Brill only had one real save of note to make which came deep into second half stoppage time, when he got down well to deny Pools substitute Marcus Dinanga’s drive from distance.

Josh Koroma and Sam Ling both impressed as second half substitutes on Saturday, with the latter making his first appearance since August having recovered from an ankle injury.

Matt Harrold’s aerial presence also added another dimension to Orient’s attack and after the O’s second string beat Barnet 3-0 in a behind closed doors friendly in mid-week, Edinburgh is pleased with the depth in the club’s squad.

He said: “The challenge every week for those who are out and those who are on the bench, is to get into that team and be game changers. I thought when (Josh) Koroma came on, he gave us that impetus and looked bright and threatened. It was the same with Sam Ling and Matt Harrold.

“We’ve got real strength in depth now and that’s what we are going to need if we are to try and achieve what we set out to do.”