Spell on bench fires up O’s hit-man Boyd

9:47am Thursday 20th November 2008

ORIENT boss Martin Ling has heaped praise on leading striker Adam Boyd after his wonder-winner at Crewe.

The ex-Luton frontman, who came back with a bang after being dropped to the bench three weeks ago against Hartlepool has now scored two in the last three games and eight in total this season.

And a delighted Ling said: “I know Adam wasn’t happy when I left him out, but at the time things weren’t really happening for us.

“But he came off the bench to score the winner against Hartlepool, and while he didn’t score in the FA Cup game at Colchester he did enough to retain his place against Crewe.

“It was a fantastic strike and shows you the ability that Adam has.

“I’m sure he will be the first to admit that he might lack a yard of pace, but he has quick feet and is more than capable of scoring goals at this and maybe even at Championship level as well.

“He got 17 for us last season, and already has eight and while he does get a lot of penalties at the end of the day the record books only show that he has scored.

“His record is one every two and a half games, so he is certainly a player I’d rather have in my team than playing against us.”

And Ling will certainly be hoping Boyd is fired up for the ding-dong home derby with Millwall on Saturday followed by the difficult away trip to Huddersfield on Tuesday. He said: “It is a hard week for us with two tough games, but after three straight wins and three cleansheets, at least we go into them with a lot more confidence.

“We have looked a lot more solid in games recently and the work we have been doing has certainly started to pay off. Hopefully we can keep it going in these next couple of games, because it will give us the base we need to go and get another couple of positive results.”

Ling also revealed that he is searching to bring in another central defender before the loan window shuts next week after Brian Saah picked up a hamstring injury at Crewe at the weekend.