The first match of the season, and the first match to watch from the new West Stand. The building is pretty much complete, give or take some ‘finishing touches’, and the new central block of padded seats are a great place to watch the game from.
Leyton started well, scoring in the second minute, and looked to be playing a lot better than last season. There was some good passing going on (and any passing at all in this league is pretty good) and decent build-up play. The finish was still lacking and so it was still 1-0 at half-time.
The second half reverted to the more familiar hoofing style with Macclesfield threatening to score a few times (including hitting the crossbar) before they finally equalised. A few more chances came and went for Orient but eventually the substitute Echanomi scored in extra time having intercepted a wayward backpass, sidestepping the keeper and holding the ball on the line for show. As we found out, his main motivation for scoring appeared to be to demonstrate his backflipping abilities.
Although not convincing in terms of goals scored, Leyton played pretty well and there’s some reason to be optimistic about the rest of the season. It also leaves us in third place which is the best for some time…
Brief match report of Leyton Orient vs Macclesfield on BBC Sport