There’s just under ten minutes left at Brisbane Road as Leyton Orient look to hold on to a precious one goal lead against Mansfield Town.
The ball goes out of play in front of the Justin Edinburgh Stand where a group of young O’s fans scramble forward to return it.
As they arrive at the advertising hoardings they are met by a sharp Mancunian bark of “leave it!” emanating from the dugout – the youngsters duly obliging with Richie Wellens’ request and in doing so shaving another valuable few seconds off the clock.
A week earlier at Crawley’s Broadfield Stadium, Orient were again defending a one goal lead.
This time the hosts have barely threatened throughout but are beginning to build-up some pressure that has seen Leyton Orient’s defensive line retreat deeper and deeper towards their own goal.
In an attempt to stem the tide, goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux hits the deck forcing a stoppage in play. Following a short intervention from the physio which allows Wellens to impart some words of wisdom, the match continues and Orient go on to see out the win with relative ease.
These incidents may seem somewhat innocuous, but they epitomise the mentality shift which has seen Orient scale to the top of the League Two table in the opening weeks of the season.
With four wins and a draw from their opening five fixtures this is the club’s best start to a campaign since they kicked off the 2015/16 season with five straight victories under Ian Hendon.
However, despite this promising start, even the most ardent supporters would admit the O’s are yet to reach top gear.
Bar a fluid first-half display against Swindon, in ironically the only league game Wellens’ side have failed to win this season, scintillating free-flowing attacking football, or to put it another way ‘WellensBall’, has been few and far between.
Instead, what has been so impressive about Orient’s start is how they have exerted control on games after taking the lead.
Noah Chilvers’ 96th minute consolation for Colchester on Saturday marked the first goal Orient have conceded while ahead this season. Astonishingly, that was only the fourth shot on target the O’s have given up in the 212 minutes they’ve been in front this campaign.
While Orient have had spells where they’ve looked like a very capable side since their return to the EFL, a soft underbelly has often been all too evident.
Rarely have they looked a side that is comfortable seeing out a one goal lead – until now, where a new found level of game management demonstrates the more streetwise and assured approach Wellens has brought to the club.
Much like Sir Alex Ferguson, his former boss at Manchester United, it’s clear that Wellens is keen to seek control of all aspects of the football club.
Speaking to The LODown Podcast shortly after his arrival in E10, Wellens said: “I’ve played and managed against clubs where I go in and see the warm-up and I think that there’s something good there, they’re going to achieve something.
“I felt that every time I walked out at Swindon, we got to a stage where when we came out for the warm-up there were already two or three thousand in the ground.
“The opposition knew something good was going on and we were one-nil up before we’d even started and that’s what we want to achieve at this club.”
By trying to generate that feel good factor, the 42-year-old has been true to his word in holding everybody to account.
Part way through the victory over Crawley, the Orient faithful broke into a typical tongue-in-cheek chant of “we’ve had a shot” much to the annoyance of their manager, who expressed his disappointment in his post-match interview.
This irked some of the fanbase, including one supporter who called out Wellens via Twitter.
Not one to shy away from confrontation, the O’s boss invited the fan down to the training ground, explaining, “I’m trying to educate him in how the players feel and we’re trying to create an environment here where everyone contributes to the club going forward.”
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With a 61% win ratio from his opening 18 league games in charge, Wellens’ work has been impressive thus far. Though there is just one remaining element of Orient’s play that he needs to assert his control over – final third cohesion.
Orient have some frightening attacking talent at their disposal who will be slightly disappointed how they’ve started the campaign.
However, throughout the early stages of the season, the O’s manager has been steadfast in his view that attacking players take the longest to get up to speed following pre-season.
If he’s right in that assertion and the frontline do click sooner rather than later, given his side’s blistering start without firing on all cylinders, it could prove ominous for the rest of League Two.
Richie Wellens image provided courtesy of Leyton Orient.