Carl Fletcher has suggested he will use Leyton Orient’s cup fixtures this week to assess his squad options following Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Morecambe.

A-Jay Leitch-Smith’s stunning 25-yard curling effort condemned the O’s to a disappointing loss at the EFL’s basement club, but the league takes a back seat as Fletcher’s side face Brighton & Hove Albion Under-21s in the Leasing.com Trophy on Wednesday before Sunday’s FA Cup first round clash against Maldon & Tiptree.

The O’s boss confirmed the ties would come too soon for Jobi McAnuff and Sam Ling, but hinted that he would shuffle his pack.

Fletcher told the club website: “We’ll have a look on Monday and see where we’re at squad wise because it’s a busy period for us, then I think we’ll assess it as we go into the game.

“It’s an opportunity as well to give some of the players that haven’t played lots of minutes since I’ve come in so I can assess the squad fully.”

One player who has been sidelined but is set to feature against the Seagulls youngsters is Jamie Turley.

“We’ll look for Turls to definitely get some minutes on Wednesday,” Fletcher said. “He’s been back training a couple of weeks and obviously the next step is getting there and playing some games.”

While the defender is poised to return to first-team action though, the O’s may again be without Conor Wilkinson after the striker sustained an injury in the build-up to Morecambe’s winner, just 16 minutes after coming on as a substitute.

Fletcher said: “It’s a muscular injury so we’ll have to assess him next week and see how long he’s going to be. It is disappointing for Conor as he’s been out for a period so it was good for him to come back. We’ll see how he gets on next week.”

The O’s struggled to get going in the first half, but they improved after the break and went close to equalising after falling behind as Josh Wright looped a header narrowly wide before goalkeeper Mark Halstead made a superb save at the death to keep out a close-range effort.

Fletcher said: “We were a little bit flat first half, we improved second half and started getting into the game and obviously it took a worldie of a goal to separate the two sides.

“We knew with the change of managers for their side that they’d be up for the game and for the fight so although we didn’t play well first half, I’m pleased with the way the lads dug in and got into half-time.

“Like I said, we had an improvement second half but probably just couldn’t get enough quality in the final third.”