Richie Wellens hails Leyton Orient for ‘staying in the moment’ to make play-offs

Posted Sunday, May 04, 2025 by PA

Leyton Orient manager Richie Wellens praised his players for focusing on the task at hand as they sealed a League One play-off place with a 4-1 win at Huddersfield.

Orient went into the game knowing they needed to at least match Reading’s result on the final day to ensure they held on to sixth spot.

And while the Royals went down at home to Barnsley, Orient now have a two-legged semi-final against Stockport to look forward to.

Wellens said: “We just needed to concentrate on ourselves. I thought in terms of our counter-attack and our speed in transition, we thought they would press us high, but with the speed we’ve got in our team we could break through them.

“We probably could have done more, but I have to say Huddersfield have some good players.

“I’ve been in that position myself and when you get close to play-off semi-finals and play-off finals you start thinking
about the next game, so we knew we had to just stay in the moment.

“We actually watched Luton against West Brom before the game and some people might think West Brom have got nothing to play for – it doesn’t work like that. Professional footballers are paid to do a job and we expected to come here for a tough game.

“But I thought we were at it and when we’re at it we’re dangerous. Nobody expected us to be here, but here we are.

“How we’ve not got a player in the League One team of the year, I don’t know.”

Huddersfield caretaker boss Jon Worthington paid tribute to captain Jonathan Hogg, who played his final game for the Terriers after 12 years at the club and left the field alongside his family to a rapturous farewell from the home fans.

Worthington said: “It was so important he got that moment for the 12 years he’s had at the club.

“What an unbelievable servant, what an unbelievable guy and I’m just really pleased that he got that special moment with his family.”

Reflecting on his caretaker spell, Worthington added: “It’s been extremely challenging. Probably in hindsight I walked into something that was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be, if I’m being honest.

“I’ll reflect on it over the summer and really take stock of what’s happened in that 10-game period.

“What I can confidently say is I can look at myself in the mirror and definitely know that I’ve given everything I’ve got to try and help.

“I don’t want to dive too much into the detail, but I think people who have watched the games since January, it’s clear to see what some of those challenges and frailties are that we’ve had in this period.”