ORIENT BLOG: We are fired up for Millwall now

9:58am Thursday 20th November 2008

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FAN and editor of O's fanzine Pandamonium Matthew Rooper is back this season to talk about all things Leyton Orient.

IN the last blog I said that I would expect a 3-0 victory at Crewe but would settle for a nervy 1-0 scoreline, so it was great to see that neither was right.

A 2-0 win, a clean sheet, a polished performance and a stunner from Boydy will do me just fine - especially as I had the O's in my weekend football selections at 9/5 - "Can we play you every week?" it should be I suppose!

So with three clean sheets, three wins, a cup victory and the fact that we have lifted ourselves out of the relegation it is all smiles in E10, and all the houses of course of Orient exiles, as many of us don't actually live in E10!

What has been particularly encouraging is our performances. A couple of weeks ago before the Hartlepool game we were a team massively low on confidence, a side in the relegation zone, a club that had fans questioning the boards investment and also whether Martin Ling's time should come to and end? Isn't it amazing what three wins can do! OK, so the sceptics among us are saying it's Colchester, Hartlepool and Crewe but at least we did the job and got the victories and if we were to get a draw on Saturday, it wouldn't be a disaster, although I quietly fancy us bearing in mind we should have a team really going into the game now high on confidence.

Saturday's game is one I look forward to, but must admit don't particularly ever "enjoy". Unfortunately, our visitors still have their horrible reputation of "troublemakers", which is of course a shame for the real fans who don't cause trouble. And with them having over 2,000 inside the ground and quite possibly some in the home end, it could be, but hopefully not, one of those horrible afternoons where what goes on, on the pitch is not everything that gets talked about.

What every O's fan, I am sure, wants to see is a good game, a good atmosphere and three points for Orient. I just hope the stewards and the police are on top of anything that might happen and all genuine fans can enjoy a good afternoon of London football.

Millwall will be a chance to see how far we can go against one of the better sides this season. Against Leicester we deserved at least a draw, against Leeds we played well but gave ourself a mountain to climb because of poor defending, and against MK Dons and Peterborough we were poor, so it's been a bit of a mixed bag against the top teams, but what will stand out at the end of the season is the fact we have lost 1-3, 1-2, 1-2 and 0-3 respectively. We need to change that run of form against the top sides starting this Saturday and if we do that then Martin Ling and the team will have helped "win" back the confidence and backing of a few more O's fans and we can look forward to another rise up the table and then the week off for the cup at Bradford.

A win on Saturday wont have even me believing we can make the play-off's this year, but remember last season. We were top at the end of November and ended up 14th. If we were 14th or near to at the end of November this year and can replicate the first half of last season in the second half this year then who knows. One team will always come from the bottom up and run the top six close and there is no reason why they cant be Leyton Orient.

Finally, just to let you know there is a new Panda out on Saturday. All the usuals plus the second part of a look at Martin Ling's five years at the O's. £1 from outside the West Stand before the game and around the ground at half time.

Here's to Saturday and three points!