Leyton Orient are now winless in three League Two matches after Josh Gordon scored the only goal in a narrow 1-0 loss at 10-man Walsall.

A good run throughout December saw Orient somewhat pull away from the bottom end of League Two, but they are now on a run of three games without a win after Gordon's strike just before half time secured the points for the Saddlers. 

The hosts were reduced to 10 in the second half when Cameron Pring was shown a second yellow card, but the O's failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage.

Ross Embleton named an unchanged starting 11 to the one that drew at Newport County on Sunday, while a change on the bench saw Louis Dennis come back into the squad.

Walsall had the better of the first half, but their chances were limited to potshots and set-pieces which rarely troubled Sam Sargeant in the visiting goal.

Craig Clay fired in Orient's best chance of the half, but his volley from 25-yards was a comfortable stop for Liam Roberts.

Gordon twice went close to opening the scoring for Walsall. Firstly, he sent a volley from a corner narrowly over the bar and he then had a similar effort clawed away by Sargeant.

There was to be no stopping him at the third attempt, though, as he beat a static away defence to a long ball from goalkeeper Roberts, took it around Sargeant and then tapped into an empty net.

Walsall were then made to play the last 24 minutes a man down after Pring, booked 10 minutes earlier for hauling down Matt Harrold, went into the book again for a late tackle on George Marsh and was shown a red.

Even with a man advantage, though, Orient didn't look at all like getting back into the game and Walsall held out comfortably to move four points clear of the O's in the table.

Defeat for Orient sees them drop down to 19th, level on 26 points with Grimsby Town above them and Oldham Athletic below them. Next up for the O's is the visit of Grimsby to East London on Saturday, January 11.

 

Orient team: Sargeant; Judd, Turley, Ekpiteta, Happe; Clay, Wright, Marsh; Maguire-Drew, Sotiriou, Angol

Subs: Coulson, Dayton, Brophy, Dennis, Harrold, Janata, Kyprianou