Ross Embleton pleased with second-half turnaround as Orient defeat Forest Green

Posted Sunday, September 06, 2020 by PA

Leyton Orient boss Ross Embleton was pleased to see his half-time team talk bear fruit as the O’s battled back to beat Forest Green 2-1 in the Carabao Cup first round.

Embleton’s side fell behind in the 23rd minute when Orient defender Dan Happe poked Nicky Cadden’s cross past his own goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux, and Dan Sweeney and Jamille Matt came close to increasing Rovers’ lead before the break.

However, the visitors turned the game on its head with two goals in four minutes immediately after half-time, Danny Johnson drawing Orient level before Conor Wilkinson quickly added a second.

Orient went close to a third goal in the 78th minute, through Josh Coulson, but were then left breathing a sigh of relief in stoppage time when Rovers’ Chris Stokes missed a glorious opportunity to take the tie to penalties, skewing over with Vigouroux to beat.

Embleton did not turn the half-time hairdryer on, but admitted a long chat during the interval helped turn the tide.

He said: “I said a lot at the break and our mindset in the second half was better – albeit the tactics we spoke of at the break were followed to the law.”

Embleton was thrilled to see striker Johnson get off the mark with a sumptuous lofted finish.

He added: “With their goalkeeper getting so high during the game we thought there would be opportunities to expose him and Danny executed it well and I was delighted for him.”

The pre- and post-match elbow bump – now commonplace at sporting events due to the coronavirus pandemic – was unsurprisingly absent when Rovers’ boss Mark Cooper and Embleton took their respective technical area spots.

That seemingly emanated from their touchline spat last season when Embleton accused Cooper of making a reference about the late Justin Edinburgh. Forest Green and Cooper denied the claim made by Embleton, who had been sent to the stands during the match – which Rovers won 4-2 at Brisbane Road – for throwing his chewing gum in the direction of his managerial counterpart.

Cooper was not drawn on the previous history between the two, but bemoaned his side’s defensive fallibilities after the break as Orient turned up the heat.

He said: “We were really good in the first half and should have put the game to bed, but second half we were really sloppy with two horrendous mistakes and we have to be better defensively, but lots to be positive and a step along the way for Bolton on Saturday.

“The first goal our centre-half gets bullied and the second our other centre-half lets their left-footed player come inside and bend it in the corner.”