Leyton Orient ease to victory over Harlow Town in pre-season opener

Striker Matt Harrold opened the scoring in the first half before Conor Wilkinson added his first goal for the club after signing from Dagenham & Redbridge.

James Brophy tapped in a third after the break before another new signing in Lee Angol curled in a free-kick to make it four, and James Alabi added a fifth late on to seal the win.

Wilkinson made his debut in the first half as Harrold’s strike partner, while Sam Sargeant started in goal. A full change in the second half saw Arthur Janata come in between the sticks, while Angol led the line in a new formation.

As expected, Orient made the brighter start to the game and were forming some good moves in the opening exchanges. Dale Gorman, in particular, was looking sharp in midfield, linking well with new signing Josh Wright.

The game’s first big chance came after nine minutes when Jordan Maguire-Drew won a free-kick on the edge of the box, which he took, but it was curled just wide of the post.

Minutes later, the O’s came agonisingly close again when Joe Widdowson powered an excellent cross towards the unmarked Matt Harrold, but he headed wide of the target.

Widdowson was seeing a lot of the ball on the left-hand side and looked dangerous with his deliveries too. He won a corner after one such cross was blocked behind, however, the routine ended with Maguire-Drew’s cross going just over the head of Hector Kyprianou at the far post.

The missed chance didn’t matter though, as just a couple of minutes later Orient took the lead, albeit slightly fortuitously. Maguire-Drew rounded Josh Bexon after being played through by Wilkinson and crossed, with the headed clearance only going as far as Wright. The midfielder headed back into Harrold who turned and shot in one move, not catching the strike at all but luckily enough, Bexon’s positioning meant the ball had just enough time to trickle over the line.

Barely a minute later, the lead was doubled as Maguire-Drew this time played in Wilkinson, and the former Dagenham man strode through and confidently finished underneath the Harlow keeper.

The Hawks started to edge into the game following the quickfire goals, and Sargeant was tested for the first time when he got down well to a shot before tipping an excellent free-kick from Serge Erkaslan over the bar.

A completely changed 11 emerged for the second half for Orient, with new signing Lee Angol getting his first run-out and youth team goalkeeper Janata replacing Sargeant in goal amongst the changes.

It was another youngster though who had the first opportunity of the half as Ruel Sotiriou curled just wide of the post when he received the ball in the corner of the box.

Angol’s first opportunity in an O’s shirt came when he powered a shot against the post, and it was his stunning skill that almost set up Alabi for a third, but he too hit the woodwork.

The third arrived shortly after, though, as Alabi got in down the right and squared across the box for James Brophy to tap in.

And, just like in the first half, another goal arrived in quick succession as new signing Angol excellently curled in a free-kick.

Chances came and went for a fifth Orient goal, but Alabi’s effort came the closest as he struck from outside the area with his left foot, but the shot hit the crossbar and bounced away and the forward also had a goal-bound header clawed out by Bexon.

After 80 minutes though, the goal did finally arrive for Alabi as he received Brendon Shabani’s through-ball, cut onto his left in the area and curled into the bottom corner.

That proved to be the final goal of the game, and Orient will continue their preparations for 2019/20 next week when they travel to Spain for a pre-season training camp.

Orient first-half XI: Sargeant; Judd, Kyprianou, Coulson (C), Ogie, Widdowson; Gorman, Wright; Maguire-Drew; Wilkinson, Harrold

Orient second-half XI: Janata; Ling, Ekpiteta, Happe, Sweeney; Clay, Shabani, Brophy; Alabi, Angol, Sotiriou

Referee: Lloyd Wood