When supporters reminisce on successful campaigns years later, there are certain moments that crop up time and again in conversation.
Leyton Orient’s season has been one of the most successful in the club’s history yet, despite this, there has been a distinct lack of those such ‘moments’.
Richie Wellens’ side have cruised through the majority of the campaign, leading the way and breaking records in a largely drama free fashion.
Of course there have been memorable victories and some great goals, but only two of Orient’s 50 league goals this season have been scored after the 80th minute and both were added gloss to a win rather than meaningful late equalisers/winners.
However, the win against Carlisle United felt different – the O’s finally having that ‘moment’.
Orient gained the lead in a fortunate manner after Ruel Sotiriou’s effort deflected kindly off Jon Mellish and looped over Carlisle’s 6ft 9” giant of a goalkeeper Tomas Holy.
Shortly afterwards, Charlie Kelman made things a lot tougher for the side as he suffered a rush of blood and received a second yellow for an unnecessary late tackle on Mellish.
The atmosphere was tense inside Brisbane Road as Wellens’ side found themselves under the cosh for the final stages, with many supporters fearing a fifth successive game of Orient giving up a lead to have to settle for a draw.
The anxious mood had seemingly spread to the pitch when an almighty mix-up between Jordan Lyden and Ed Turns set Mellish away inside the penalty area.
Lawrence Vigouorux had got a touch to the ball as Mellish rounded him, but it still seemed a foregone conclusion the 25-year-old would tap into an empty net.
Then, the unthinkable happened.
Off balance, Mellish scuffed his shot which allowed Omar Beckles to come round on the cover and clear – the centre back defending the O’s goal in a similar fashion to how he defended the rights of National League players in The Guardian earlier in the week.
The collective sigh of relief from the E10 faithful was audible; thus Orient had their ‘moment’ as they saw out the final few minutes to stretch their unbeaten record to 10 matches and extend the gap between them and fourth to 11 points with a game in hand.
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The mindset had changed – it was now a question of when, not if, the O’s will be promoted as supporters performed hurried arithmetic wondering whether it’d be Sutton United away or perhaps Gillingham when their side’s fate would be sealed.
In each of the last three completed League Two seasons, 80 points has been enough to secure automatic promotion with attention now turning to this weekend’s Easter double header as Orient travel to Salford on Good Friday before hosting Harrogate on Easter Monday to try to reach that milestone.
Prior to last weekend’s fixture, both Wellens and Beckles used their pre-match interviews to discuss “good pressure”; the duo emphasising the fact the O’s were relishing Saturday’s game as the type of footballing occasion you want to find yourselves in.
Wellens in particular produced a masterclass in relieving expectations by discussing the 2016/17 campaign and the excellent Copa 90 documentary produced alongside Orient’s relegation from the Football League, putting the club’s current situation into perspective.
After picking up those invaluable points against Carlisle and with the chances of dropping out of the automatic promotion places now extremely remote, you can file Orient’s current situation under “extremely good pressure” as they look to seal their second league title in five seasons over the remaining eight games.