Carl Fletcher says a Lee Angol return is 'at least a couple of weeks' away

Summer signing Lee Angol has not featured since the 2-1 defeat at home to Crewe Alexandra in September, Sam Ling has been out since the win over Northampton Town and club captain Jobi McAnuff is yet to feature this season.

When asked about an expected return time for Angol, Fletcher told the club website: “I’ll have to speak to the physio but it’s going to be at least a couple of weeks yet. I think we’re looking at about three or four weeks.

“Obviously Lee has been with the physio since I’ve joined but it’s one of those where you might have to give him an extra week because you want him to hit the ground running when he comes back to training.”

Regarding Ling and McAnuff, Fletcher added: “They’re both working hard to try and get back to full fitness. The physio is doing a good job and sometimes it takes just a little bit of time to get it right.

“I think the important thing for us, we spoke about it as staff, is that when they come back we want them to stay back rather than keep getting recurring injuries so it’s important that we get it right first time.”

While Orient have reinforcements for the areas where injuries have left them light, any further problems could leave them struggling to fill the voids in the squad. Fletcher, though, currently has no radical plans to change the squad come the January transfer window, and is still using his time to assess the current squad.

He said: “I speak to Martin [Ling] pretty much most days. There’s still areas that we’re looking in but we’ve probably had only two to two and a half hours of training since I’ve been in just because of the travel and trying to recoup for the games.

“There’s still a period of assessment and there’s still things that I’m going to find out about people and find out about players. We’re going into training every day looking to improve, both as players and as staff, and the lads have shown me that they want to get better.”