Ross Embleton: Orient well worth win over Mansfield

Posted Wednesday, February 12, 2020 by PA

Head coach Ross Embleton felt his Leyton Orient side fully deserved their 2-1 home victory over Mansfield but accepted the game was far from a classic.

The O’s needed an own goal from Stages defender Mal Benning to wrap up the three points after James Dayton had put the hosts ahead before the lead was cancelled out by Kelland Watts.

The win gave Orient the “double” over their opponents having won 3-2 at Mansfield earlier in the season.

“I felt that we merited the win although it was not a ‘blow you away’ type of performance,” Embleton said.

“We had a lot of control on the game and the difference today in comparison to last Saturday when we drew with Macclesfield was that we saw through the worrying moments we had in and around our box.

“I was delighted for James Dayton with his goal. He’s had to be patient but I believe that we always see the better of him when he has two or three games under his belt.

“I’m sure he would be the first to admit that.

“Our second goal looks to have been an own goal but all credit to Lee Angol who put all the pressure on. He worked his socks off tonight and there have been a lot of occasions this season when Lee has worked really hard for the team and hasn’t had the amount of chances we would hope to give our strikers.

“Now we go to Cheltenham on Saturday, we are in a good frame of mind and I’m looking for us to go there and make a good impression.”

Stags head coach Graham Coughlan kept his side locked in the dressing room for 45 minutes after the match before emerging to state: “It wasn’t good enough.

“We were vulnerable and soft. The goals we concede are killing us and the errors we are making in this moment of time are just not good enough

“We shoot ourselves in the foot once too often. Basic errors, mistakes, massive lack of confidence and lacking leadership.

“The players are not in a great place if I am honest and it is hurting us bad. If we do our jobs correctly and do our jobs right then we don’t concede.

“I keep going back each weekend and we are making the same basic simple plain errors and when you do that you get punished.

“We are conceding all types of goals and it is killing us but all the lads can do is keep working because that’s all we can do with this set of players.

“It is pretty self-explanatory how I fell right now, I am bitterly disappointed.”