Leyton Orient 2 Boston United 0

Matt Lockwood and Paul Connor were on target to sink Boston United at Brisbane Road on Saturday.

The Leyton Orient duo struck on 50 and 89 minutes respectively to condemn United to another defeat on the road, although the Pilgrims dominated the first half against their promotion-chasing opponents. Former Orient defender Alan White conceded a penalty on his first return to East London and Lockwood duly converted from the spot.

With the Pilgrims pushing numbers forward in search of an equaliser, Orient exploited the spaces and Connor bagged his fifth goal for the Os since moving from Swansea City.

Going into the fixture, Boston boss Steve Evans named an unchanged line-up from the one which had beaten Barnet at York Street a week earlier. This meant that Peter Till, returning from illness, was forced to settle for a place on the bench.

Boston opened brightly, resplendent in their all-blue away kit which was donned for the final time by the Pilgrims. Orient’s Wayne Corden saw a chance go begging as his drive was charged down by Paul Ellender, before Boston broke quickly allowing Lawrie Dudfield to outdo John Mackie down the left before drilling wastefully across goal and wide.

More Boston pressure down the left saw Chris Holland swing the ball infield for Dudfield and his low drive flashed wide of Glyn Garner’s right-hand upright from 18 yards. Boston came close in the ninth minute when Brad Maylett’s free-kick floated into the box was not cleared by Orient and Lee Canoville crashed an effort against Garner’s crossbar.

A swift counter-attack from the Pilgrims saw Dudfield afforded space down the right, but his cross-shot drifted off target with Garner back-peddling quickly. Orient saw a good opportunity go to waste with Gary Alexander headed just over from Lockwood’s inswinging corner.

Alexander was then denied twice in the space of a matter of seconds when his header came back off the post before Austin McCann produced a fantastic block to deny Orient’s leading scorer from six yards. United ended the half on top though, but were soon made to pay for failing to convert their chances.

The Pilgrims conceded a penalty four minutes into the second half when White brought down Connor, who had skipped clear of him in the box. Lockwood stepped up confidently from the spot to drill the home side in front, sending the ball just wide of Michel Kuipers who had dived full-length to his left. Moments later, White was booked for a clumsy challenge from behind on Alexander, with Mackie unnecessarily getting involved in a confrontation with his former team-mate.

Tudor smashed another effort just off target as Orient threatened to cut loose but their progress was soon halted by an injury to the Orient winger, who was subsequently stretchered off and replaced by Joe Keith.

Great work down the right by Dudfield saw him skip past Gabriel Zakuani, but Mackie did well to hack the ball behind for a corner, with Mark Greaves and Julian Joachim prowling. Moments later, Joachim appeared to be flattened by Mackie in the area, but play was waved on as Orient scrambled clear once more. The subsequent corner from Maylett was headed marginally wide by White, when he arguably should have hit the target.

Boston wasted a golden chance when Maylett skipped clear down the right, but his driven ball across the face of goal was missed by Joachim at the back post, to let Orient off the hook.

Boston had a let-off of their own when Keith ghosted in to head just wide from Alexander’s cross, before the Pilgrims made a double substitution with Till and Danny Thomas replacing Maylett and Holland. Seconds later, Joachim had a tumbling drive gathered by Garner, although the flag was already raised for offside before the same player’s fierce 20-yarder was well collected by the Orient keeper, low down to his right.

However, Orient wrapped up all three points in the 89th minute when Connor slid home an angled drive from six yards, after the Pilgrims had failed to clear a diagonal ball into the box from left-back Lockwood.

Leyton Orient (4-4-2): Garner; Miller (Barnard 33), Zakuani, Mackie, Lockwood; Tudor (Keith 54), Simpson, Easton, Corden; Alexander, Connor. Subs (not used): Steele, Ibehre, Morris (gk).

Boston (4-4-2): Kuipers; Canoville, White, Ellender, McCann; Maylett (Till 75), Rusk, Greaves, Holland (Thomas 75); Joachim, Dudfield. Subs (not used): Hall, Clarke, Silk.