Ross Embleton has praised the freshness of his Leyton Orient side after they ran out 5-0 winners against Harlow Town in their first pre-season friendly.

The interim head coach oversaw his first game in the position following the tragic death of Justin Edinburgh last month, and he was delighted with the performances levels of his players despite having a shorter-than-usual break and having to deal with the tragedy surrounding Edinburgh.

After the match, he said: "It's been one of the biggest things that I've been pleased about. There has been and will be a lot of hurdles for us to get over now and across the season but the biggest thing that hit me this week was how well prepared the boys came back.

"We've had five and a bit weeks since the Fylde game which isn't a lot of time for them to have off if you're to compare it to what they'd have normally got. Then with what's happened on top, I was wondering what sort of physical state the boys would come back in. They've come back in brilliant shape and I was really pleased with their intensity and the way they went about their game today."

It was a wholly dominant performance from Orient, who hit the woodwork a number of times, particularly in the second half as they constantly peppered Josh Bexon's goal with efforts.

New strikers Conor Wilkinson and Lee Angol were amongst the scorers and Embleton found that to be one of the most pleasing aspects.

He said: "I think the biggest positive is that new players, new strikers, have got on the scoresheet as well as existing strikers if you count James Alabi. That's a huge positive for us.

"The big thing is that we create chances on a day like today but my biggest point to the lads before we came out was that this was about intensity and doing it with the right attitude and the right intent in order to get the physical outcomes that we needed."

Five more friendlies on home soil are scheduled for the O's but their next task comes in the form of a pre-season training camp in Spain next week where, amongst the training, they will also play a match against Championship side Hull City, and Embleton is looking forward to putting the players through their paces.

He said: "Portugal last year was such a fantastic week and a fantastic period for us in terms of that we got the group together and this gives us the opportunity to do that.

"Certainly one thing that is important to all of us is that we go about Spain in the way that we went about Portugal last year. We try to integrate everybody and make sure that team morale is at the forefront of everything that we do so we're looking forward to that and I think it gives us a break from the norm to focus on what's coming."

After the O's return from Spain, they play AFC Hornchurch in a re-arranged fixture on Wednesday, July 17 before travelling to AFC Rushden and Diamonds and Dartford later in the week.