Leyton Orient secured a point on the road as Jordan Maguire-Drew's fifth goal of the season helped them to a 1-1 draw at Oldham Athletic.

The Latics took the lead after just two minutes through Jonny Smith, but Maguire-Drew bundled home from Lee Angol's cross midway through the first half to draw level.

Oldham almost snatched all three points at the death when David Jones' free-kick from the edge of the area bounced off the post, but neither side could say they were particularly deserving of a win in a largely scrappy affair.

Ross Embleton made just one change from the side that exited the Leasing.com Trophy at Bristol Rovers on Wednesday night as Dan Happe came in for Marvin Ekpiteta. That meant that goalkeeper Sam Sargeant retained his place between the sticks and there was a first professional Football League appearance for 18-year-old midfielder Hector Kyprianou.

The home side made the perfect start to the game and went in front early on after Smith got in behind the Orient defence and calmly slotted past Sargeant.

Maguire-Drew was the first O's player to test Latics goalkeeper Zeus de la Paz when he capitalised on a wayward pass in the home defence, but his curling shot was comfortably saved by the Curacaoan. 

However, just a few minutes after, the forward managed to drag the O's level with his second effort, bundling the ball home from Angol's ball in after he had been played through by Josh Wright.

Sargeant was called upon just before the break, pushing Jamie Stott's dipping effort behind for a corner.

Five minutes into the second half, the O's had two glorious opportunities to take the lead. Firstly, Conor Wilkinson saw his curling effort take a slight deflection and land just inches wide of the post, and Angol then saw his effort from the resulting corner blocked on the line after de la Paz had dropped the ball at his feet.

At the other end, Sargeant made sure Smith didn't have a brace to his name when he parried away the winger's effort before diving on top of the ball at the second attempt.

Sargeant then almost registered an assist when his long ball up-field was collected by Angol, but the striker's effort was blocked by de la Paz.

The closing stages saw the game become scrappy, with neither side really looking like they were going to find themselves a winner.

That was until Jones' free-kick rattled the post, leaving Orient's hearts in their mouths, but luckily for them it bounced away to safety before the referee brought an end to the play after five minutes of additional time.

The result keeps Orient a point ahead of Oldham in the table, but they do drop a place due to Walsall's 1-0 win away at Port Vale.

Next up for Embleton's side is a return to the Breyer Group Stadium next Saturday as they face a tough test against sixth-placed Bradford City.