Paul Terry applauds Leyton Orient display in hard-fought win over Stevenage

Leyton Orient assistant manager Paul Terry praised his side after beating Stevenage 1-0 at the BetWright Stadium.

Alex Gilbert scored the only goal in a game of few chances in the 80th minute.

The victory was Orient’s first at home this season and Terry was pleased with the attitude of his players.

He said: “It was a good win. We dug in, did all the things we needed to do to win the game. It was a difficult game against Stevenage – it always is.

“In the second half I think we got better and better as the game went on.

“The goal was very good, we just talked about it in the dressing room. Not just the people who were involved, but Sean
Clare and Fin Stevens, with his run into the box that dragged the midfielder.

“The saves that Nathan Baxter made proved how important it is not to switch off. We’re 1-0 up and we sit off teams. We need to be better in those moments.

“You earn your own luck. We knew about the league record at home and the crowd today was great with how positive they were. Sometimes the players need the fans and sometimes it’s the other way round.”

Stevenage’s Oliver Sanderson had the best chance of the first half after 25 minutes, but his low shot was pushed away by Baxter.

Orient went in front when Gilbert fired into the roof of the net after pouncing on a loose ball in the area.

Stevenage pressed for the equaliser and Baxter had to pull off an excellent point-blank save before Dan Kemp managed to completely miss his shot from four yards out in added time.

With manager Alex Revell suffering from illness, Stevenage first-team coach Scott Cuthbert felt his side did not do enough.

He said: “When you create 16 opportunities but you don’t get a goal, obviously that’s the issue.

“We made it a bit of a scruffy game in the first half, not controlling the ball. After the break we had more control, more of the ball and more chances.

“Orient had that one shot on target, so that’s disappointing. We’ve had opportunities to win the game, so it’s frustrating.

“You can never fault the lads’ application and efforts, the one thing to take away from this is to believe. We need to believe that we can 100 per cent move the ball and to take players on.“