Leyton Orient bagged their first win in seven games, as a pair of strikes by Sean Thornton in the second-half saw off a sorry Walsall.
A low drive from Aaron Doran, on loan from Blackburn Rovers, was blocked by Walsall’s impressive goalkeeper Rene Gilmartin, but the ball bounced kindly to Thornton, tapping it in to give Orient the lead at 63 minutes.
Within minutes the home side looked set to double their lead, as Jonathan Téhoué controlled a corner from Charlie Daniels and flashed his strike through the mêlée of bodies in the box. But despite his efforts, no Orient player could direct the ball into the net.
Then, ten minutes after his first goal, Thornton dodged past a defender to score a second and put the game beyond Walsall’s reach.
Orient started the game well, with Téhoué shooting close to the mark several times in the first half. Gilmartin rushed out to smother the Frenchman’s early shot after a cross from Scott McGleish, and produced another smart save after Téhoué’s low strike from the edge of the box.
Despite Orient’s recent winless streak, the invention on their front line suggests that a breakthrough could be on the cards.
Orient remain in the bottom half of the League One table but this long-awaited victory puts them on 41 points, just three behind 11th-placed Yeovil. With ten games still to play, an improvement on last year’s 14th-place finish is well within their reach.
Orient: Morris, Purches (Cave-Brown 53), Chorley, Mkandawire, Demetriou, Chambers, Thornton, Daniels, Doran, McGleish, Tehoue (Ryan Jarvis, 74)
Goals: Thornton 63, 73
Walsall: Gilmartin, Sansara, Taundry, Westlake, Vincent, McDonald, O’Keefe (Bradley 82), Gray, Jones (Till 77), Deeney, Nicholls (Byfield 76)
Ref: Steve Phillips
Attendance: 3,685
