Richie Wellens rues second-half ‘rugby game’ as Leyton Orient drop points

Posted Sunday, October 09, 2022 by PA

Richie Wellens cut a frustrated figure after his Leyton Orient side dropped points for the second successive week with a 1-1 draw at his former club Doncaster.

Orient were thoroughly dominant in the first half as Wellens returned to the Eco-Power Stadium for the first time since his dismissal as Rovers manager last November.

But they only had Paul Smyth’s stunning overhead kick to show for their efforts, leaving them vulnerable to a Rovers rally which was capped with Harrison Biggins’ equaliser with 14 minutes to play.

Wellens said: “It could have gone either way at the end, but it’s two points dropped because of the way we played in the first half when we ran all over them.

“You have to give credit to them because they lifted the intensity a little bit in the second half but we resorted to playing the same way as they did.

“Every time the ball went out, they were throwing it back in early and they went a bit gung-ho, which they had to do because of the negative atmosphere around the place, and we did not handle that well.

“Parts of the second half looked like a rugby game and we have to be better.

“Nobody made contact with their player for the goal either and it was a poor one to concede.”

Wellens was full of praise for Smyth after his superb goal put Orient ahead.

He said: “He’s scored some outstanding goals for me since I came here. He has fantastic ability, but we’ve got to get the ball into those areas of the pitch more so he can score goals like that.”

Rovers manager Gary McSheffrey criticised his players for the manner of their performance in the first half but praised their response after the break.

“It was never the plan to sit off them in the first half and we showed them far too much respect,” said McSheffrey, who was the target of some ire from the Rovers support.

“We didn’t lay a finger on them in the first half. They were very good. Richie has got a good team and they’re top of the league for a reason.

“I wanted to change the shape earlier but I didn’t have the personnel on the pitch to do it and I didn’t want to make a triple substitution at that point which would have looked panicky in the moment.

“We made it at half-time and asked the lads to go and have a go, work hard and run around. The minimal amount was just having a go.

“The second-half performance, that was the minimum requirement and we put them on the back foot when we lifted the game.”