Kenny Jackett believes Leyton Orient were denied a penalty in Stevenage draw

Posted Sunday, October 24, 2021 by PA

Leyton Orient boss Kenny Jackett believes his side should have had a penalty in their 0-0 draw against Stevenage.

Both sides had chances to break the deadlock, and Orient should have been awarded a penalty when Pieros Sotiriou was bundled over by a Stevenage player in the area.

However, the referee waved away Orient appeals for a penalty, meaning the contest ended goalless.

Jackett said: “We had a shout for a penalty and the referee said there was contact, but not enough contact.

“We had chances, other opportunities and we’ve had a little run of not scoring goals.

“It’s five draws out of six now and the goals for column in the context of that – that’s where the frustration comes from.

“It’s frustrating, and there’s a bit of disappointment as well.

“It was easy for us to get in and around their box. We had a good foothold in the game if you like.

“Our finishing, our final ball, some good saves didn’t go our way. There was always the threat on the break.

“I did think the game was there for us really and we didn’t take it so there’s a lot of frustration.”

Darren Pratley had a left-foot shot charged down after only four minutes as the visitors started brightly.

Late in the contest, Harry Smith’s header went close and then Tom James saw his goal-bound shot charged down, but neither side produced enough quality to get the ball in the back of the net.

The result means Orient have now drawn four games on the bounce, and currently sit in ninth place, three points outside the play-off places.

Stevenage have moved another point further away from the relegation zone, sitting 20th, three points clear of Mansfield in 23rd.

Stevenage boss Alex Revell also bemoaned his side’s lack of goals.

He said: “We created a lot of chances in the game and should have won the game.

“We can’t miss the chances we missed today. We’ve got to be more ruthless.

“You have to be in those positions to miss them and we have to keep working hard.

“We said straight away that if you cut out the mistakes then you give yourselves a chance and there were no mistakes today. We did the basics well. It was a much-improved performance.

“It’s our duty as a staff that you let the players know mistakes will happen, but it’s about the way you get over it and get better. That’s what we do here, that’s how we manage.

“We’ve got some really top fellas here, we showed that today with how we played.

“We were miles the better team and we should have won the game.”