Railwaymen fail to impress on Orient express

Posted Wednesday, September 18, 2019 by PA

Crewe boss David Artell was critical of his side despite their 2-1 win at Leyton Orient and expressed his sympathy for the opposition.

James Jones scored a late winner after Jordan Maguire-Drew, who also missed a second-half penalty, cancelled out Eddie Nolan’s opener for Orient.

“I thought that was our worst performance of the season to be honest but one of the best results,” said Artell.

“Don’t get me wrong, we’ve hit the bar and the post and James Jones had a chance just before we scored but I never felt we were in control of the game.

“We had a semblance of control in the first half but certainly in the second half Orient had control of all the possession and territory but without creating a clear-cut chance apart from the penalty.

“I never thought they were going to score after the break but I didn’t think we were either because we weren’t playing very well. We weren’t very good on the ball but I thought we defended properly apart from a mistake each from each centre-half.

As one of the lads said, ‘it’s a sign of a good team when you win but don’t play well’.

“What I would say is that the lads deserve a bit of luck and we didn’t get any at Newport and had 92 per cent of possession there. We were on the end of what’s happened to Leyton Orient tonight.

“I told the Orient staff and their gaffer that they didn’t deserve that.”

Orient interim boss Ross Embleton said: “Tonight it feels like another game which finished in hurt and defeat where we haven’t seen out the game.

“I don’t think we deserved the win to be honest but there comes a time when we have to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and saying we didn’t deserve to lose.

“Despite Lee Angol being off the pitch through injury, I had every faith in Jordan Maguire-Drew when he took the penalty but it speaks for itself the fact that it was saved.

“We were playing against a good team at the top end of the league so you know they will play with confidence and create chances but unfortunately we have ended up conceding two goals once again.

“The game opened up towards the end and we got a warning shortly before the winner was scored from a similar area.

“We have to show our nastier side to see out a game.”