Leyton Orient assistant manager praised Lincoln City for doing the basics during yesterday’s game, lamenting his own side’s inability to match us.
City led 2-0 at the break after an effective first half against Orient, who tweaked their approach in the second period. That saw them enter the contest properly and cause us more problems than most visitors to the Bank.
Terry, standing in for Richie Wellens, pinpointed exactly why his side started to make progress against the Imps an hour into the contest.
“We started playing forward,” said Terry. “It ain’t rocket science, you know what I mean? There were too many sideways passes, too many backwards passes in the first half.
“When we started playing forward, it caused them a few problems, which it does. It’s horrible as a defender if you’re running back towards your goal; it’s horrible. And we done that and we got corners, we put balls into the box, and we caused them some problems.”
They did cause problems, perhaps not as frequently as they’d like, but they gave a better account of themselves than many teams supposedly with promotion aspirations. They did that by getting the basics right, something Terry believes City do well.
“If you don’t do the basics right, you’re not going to win football matches, not against sides that are going to win the league.
“You’ve got to do the basics right. That’s what they do. They do basics right. When they clear it, they clear it. When they play, they play, they put balls in the box, it comes back out, they put it back in. They just keep testing you all the time.
“When we done that to them, they didn’t like it.”
We may not have liked it, but we dealt with it and came out on the right side of the result. 2-1 was perhaps the fair outcome on the balance of play and chances, but Orient certainly didn’t disgrace themselves in any way.
They’re on 50 points, level with Wimbledon and both ahead of Exeter City in the final relegation spot. Matt Taylor’s men look doomed, but Orient need to pick up six points against Rotherham, Mansfield, Blackpool and Burton to be assured of survival. In real terms, given that Exeter face Stockport, Burton and Bradford, a single point could be enough for the O’s to survive.
A point they may have got at the Bank, had they done the basics right from the start.
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