Justin Edinburgh said “I back my players to the hilt” following Leyton Orient’s 2-1 loss at Bromley, their first defeat in 10.

The O’s were comfortable in the game courtesy of Josh Coulson’s first-half header, but a red card for Marvin Ekpiteta early in the second period allowed Bromley to turn the game around through Frankie Sutherland and Reeco Hackett-Fairchild.

The loss comes prior to a run of games that sees the O’s play six more times before the month is out, but the boss doesn’t think tiredness will be an issue for his side, even after playing with 10 men in two recent games.

“It absolutely won’t be an issue. I back my players to the hilt and that won’t be a problem and it wasn’t tonight. We haven’t been out-run. They’ve had a few chances but so have we at the end. We’ve run hard, given everything, we took the game to the opposition with 10 men,” he told the club’s website.

He continued: “We perhaps just lacked that killer instinct in the first and second half, that real conviction. Games are intensifying, the occasions are becoming greater, we play under pressure every week so nothing changes.

“Everything stays the same. We played this many games in early August and September so we’re fully aware, we’re fully equipped, we’re fully prepared for what it throws at us.”

The loss brought to an end a magnificent run of form for the O’s, who had climbed their way back to the top of the National League and advanced to the final of the FA Trophy in that time, but Edinburgh had no complaints about the performance his players turned in last night.

He said: “All defeats hurt, I don’t think there’s a manner to it. I don’t think there was anything particularly wrong in the performance. I can’t stand here and criticise any of the performances but obviously we’re disappointed with any game we lose.

Edinburgh did, though, take issue with some of the decisions made by the referee on the night, particularly the awarding of the penalty that started Bromley’s comeback and the sending off of Ekpiteta.

He said: “It’s a dive. He’s dived from outside the box where the initial contact is and he’s dived into it. The referee is a long way away to make that call but we shouldn’t have allowed that position to come about. It was poor from us, four minutes into the second half we’re comfortable in the game, we had the goal. We’re not happy with the goals we conceded, that’s for sure.

“The laws and the way people describe the rules, I’m fathomed because I thought it was a genuine attempt to get out of the way. They’ve been given a penalty so I presumed it was a yellow on that situation, but someone tells me differently. I was surprised to see it be red.”