Ah, Leyton High Street. Havenât been down there in at least 20 years and it looks to have smartened itself up. Strolling from the tube station to the ground, many college memories flooded in, the 158 and 58 buses which I used to catch were the most prominent ones, and it felt somewhat strange to be back. The match? Well, to say my fears and trepidations were confirmed is an understatement. A lot of the City team that played last night have quality above League One, where Leyton Orient play, but you wouldnât have known it as Orient took charge. After having a goal ruled out for offside, to the travelling supporters relief, City took the lead with a quality finish from stuttering striker Nick Proschwitz; he controlled the ball in such a manner that it popped up for a volley, which he buried with some power from about 15 yds out. A little undeserved, perhaps, but it was the half time lead. Midway through the second half, Leyton scored, but once again the kind assistant spared the defences blushes with another offside decision, the Tigers were playing a dangerous game. With a couple of minutes to go, many of the fans were planning their route home, when a freak goal from the Leyton right embarrassed keeper Jakupovic. A cross from about 30 yds appeared to take a slight deflection and Jak was all at sea as the ball went through his hands into the right-hand top corner of the goal. So. Extra time. Leyton clearly wanted the win and City were second best, as the hosts kept putting the defence under pressure. However, in the 117th minute, a loose clearance came to midfielder Tom Cairney, whose 20 yd firm strike found its way past legs, feet and keepers gloves into the corner of the net for the winner. In truth on performance, City should have been sent skulking away from Brisbane Road with tails between their legs, but instead, they will take on Barnsley at the KC in the 4th round. Undeserved and a bit harsh on Leyton, who will feel they should be the ones to go forward. --- Feel free to rip it to shreds if you like...
Can't argue with any of that. Orient certainly looked like they wanted it more. There were some pretty stand-out poor performances from City - Simpson never looked settled and didn't really get into the game, compunded by the two missed one-on-ones. Jakupovic's confidence is obviously shot to **** as is the defence's confidence in him and as detailed on the other thread we need to get another keeper in asap and try to rebuild his confidence in the reserves. My third candidate for worst in the team was probably Chester and certainly it's the worst I've seen him play for us - Macca and Bruce were way ahead of him on the night. Don't know if he just wasn't massively up for it after most of the other first teamers got a rest or what? Having to play 120 minutes probably won't help him much for Saturday. The (few) positives were Prossy's goal - a great strike and shows what he's capable of plus I thought Cairney looked assured throughout the whole game and deserved his goal at the end. Macca looked solid and committed throughout and I was pleased Dawson had a solid enough game.
good summary. pretty much agree with all of that. one question: can anyone enlighten me why both teams wore their 3rd kits last night? Amber & black doesn't clash with either of Orient's red or blue kits, nor does our black 2nd strip. The sky blue was very indistinct from their white at a distance. Not that anyone would mistake us for Man Citeh.
According to Blunderside Orient's kit was their 'FA Cup' kit. Sounds more like another excuse for money.
The truth of the matter is that the club, being in the position that it is, couldn't care less about the FA Cup. Sad reflection of the game today, but given our position and the money involved, it is understandable. Under that kind of environment, which is reflected in team selection, no matter what spin the management put on it, the attitude of the team will be adversely affected. There are two schools of thought in situations like this, firstly that you put the reserves in and save the first teamers, the other is that you play your strongest team and maintain momentum. There are plus and minus sides to both approaches and it is a difficult decision for the manager to take. The right decision will only be known at the end of the season.
Home kits still in the wash from the weekend? I think they travelled down on Monday. Away kit I don't have a clue, maybe something to do with having contracts that say we have to wear them so many times a season. The 3rd kit could be lagging behind where it needs to be.
I remember reading somewhere that teams have a maximum number of times they can wear their away kit and third kit a season. Our home kit doesn't really clash with anybody elses, so it would have been a waste of time wearing the black kit for the sake of being away. Guess they thought they'd wear the blue one and get it over with.
