Richie Wellens hails Leyton Orient match-winner George Moncur

Posted Sunday, February 05, 2023 by PA

Richie Wellens heaped praise on match-winner George Moncur after his strike whose strike earned Leyton Orient a 1-0 win over AFC Wimbledon.

The midfielder struck in the 64th minute to seal all three points for the League Two leaders, who moved four points clear at the top of the table.

“The goal has been coming from George Moncur,” said Wellens.

“We have been seeing that in training, he has been working hard and when he gets into those areas he can hurt teams.

“It’s a really good result.

“We let little things go a bit in the second half with second balls and they had a one-on-one, but a lot was made before the game about the way Wimbledon play, but I thought we were excellent where we didn’t react, particularly when players were falling over, and just kept our focus to get the three points.”

Moncur tried his luck from 25 yards in the third minute, bringing a good save from Nik Tzanev, who also denied new loan signing Kieran Saddlier.

At the other end only an excellent reaction save from Lawrence Vigouroux kept out Ali Al-Hamadi, while Ethan Chislett spurned a golden opportunity after the break as missed the target when one-on-one with the Orient goalkeeper.

Moncur made the breakthrough when he cut in from the left and his shot went through a crowded goalmouth before finding the far corner.

Wimbledon substitute Diallang Jaiyesimi had a goalbound shot blocked by Adam Thompson right under the bar as Orient stood firm.

Wellens added: “We worked so hard where perhaps we earned that bit of luck where Adam Thompson headed that one off the line, but first half, for me, we were back with our fast exciting football.

“Playing the ball forwards with pace and tempo, our crowd were excellent because they played off the players.

“I felt like we were back today and the atmosphere in the ground was excellent. Our intensity was back to where we need to be.

“If we can get to 16 or 17 games left and we have a fully-fit squad, then I feel we are in a really good position.”

Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson was left to rue a number of wasted chances.

“I thought we competed really well against a top team sitting top of the league,” he said.

“We went toe to toe with them, we had the better chances and we should have come away with something, but a little bit of quality for them has ultimately been the difference, where we were a little bit wasteful in the chances we did have.

“We have a lot of depth in the squad. We lost some really good players in the window and there is no getting away from that, but I am really happy with the guys we have brought in which I think puts us in a really good position to push on in the second half of the season.”