Leyton Orient 3 Bournemouth 1, 2/3/13

A game in which... Bournemouth strutted onto the pitch with all the confidence of the newly-minted wife of a Russian oligarch sneering disdainfully at some peasant girls while mentally acknowledging she'd still be one of them were it not for her large bosom and 'relaxed' approach to her husband's rampant infidelity. Indeed, in the first five minutes of the match Orient seemed so overawed by the gaudy visitors that it appeared they might well lose 47-0.

They regained their composure soon enough though and went on to dominate most of the next 85 minutes and record a particularly impressive victory over one of the league's supposed high-flyers. Pleasing too was the way the team passed the ball around, almost making one wonder if they might have considered doing that against Southend...

Moment of magic... The sound of corks popping from bottles of discounted Lidl sparkling white wine in Theo's restaurant could only mean one thing today: the return of Kevin Lisbie. Yes, the sight of the only Orient striker in living memory who can actually shoot was a welcome one, and it was fitting that the number nine announced his comeback with a smartly-taken goal.

David Mooney

Moment of madness... Bournemouth left-back Matt Ritchie's decision not to chase back Mathieu Baudry's  hopeful punt forward, no doubt assuming that the lurking David Mooney had all the turn of speed of the Dublin-Holyhead car ferry. Oh, but how wrong he was, because three hours later Moons had just about managed to chase down the ball and cut it back for Charlie MacDonald to slot into the net.

Knight in shining armour... Plenty of Os players shone today: Baudry (bien sur!), MacDonald, James (yes, Lloyd James, what of it?) and Odubajo for starters. Jamie Jones too made one save in the second half that was so spectacular that it would have left goalkeeping coach Kevin Dearden open-mouthed in wonder were he not at that moment trying to swallow two Cornish pasties and a Twix. But let's give man of the match to Nathan Clarke for a flawless display of defensive solidity and one awesome last-ditch tackle on Lewis Grabban in the second half.

Pantomime horse... Whoever's responsibility it was to fill with helium the 32 balloons that were supposed to be released into the air at half-time on behalf of the NHS Be Clear On Cancer campaign. Instead of rising to the heavens, each balloon dropped apologetically to the ground, thus providing a fitting metaphor for the entire history of Leyton Orient Football Club. (More info on the campaign here by the way.)

In the dug out... Full credit to Russell, this season he's proved he can go toe-to-toe with the top managers in the division, and his team's record against promotion challengers is an impressive one. If he could only crack how not to lose to the division's bottom-feeders then who knows what could happen next year after we lose our customary first 10 matches?

View from the opposition... "No leadership on the pitch," says Bournemouth fan Simon Wybrow. "Lost all balance in defence with Daniels out. Surely it's time to give Allsop a go?"

Dean Cox on Come Dine With Me

Meanwhile on Twitter... Kudos to eagle-eyed fan Andrew Ford who this week spotted that our very own Dean Cox was making a cheeky appearance on Channel 4 cookery show Come Dine With Me.

Statto corner... It's a little-known fact that one of the innovations that Barry Hearn brought to the club when he took over in 1995 (along with on-pitch weddings) was a contractual obligation for players to always concede a goal when 2-0 up. "We want to raise the excitement levels at Brisbane Road," he said at the time, "and what better way than to ensure that as many games as possible have a nail-biting finish." Orient have not won 2-0 at home since that day.

(Prostate Cancer UK were also collecting at today's game as the official charity of the Football League. Find out more here.)

Leyton Orient 1 Bournemouth 3, 13/9/11

A game which... was something akin to watching a boxing match between Vladimir Klitschko and Justin Bieber, in which Bieber is forced to fight with one arm tied behind his back. Yep, Orient hardly need handicaps at the moment and given that we can't win with 11 players, we're not going to get three points with just 10. The focus of some of the post-match attention will be on the dubious penalty and sending off, but let's first at least credit the Orient players with a bit of spirit for vaguely attempting a fight back, while acknowledging that even with 11 on the pitch they mostly looked as threatening as a feather duster-wielding toddler.

Moment of class... Just the one really, Orient's goal, which was both initiated and finished by Dean Cox. The pocket-sized winger is still the Nicole Scherzinger in a team of underperforming Pussycat Dolls, but it would help if his colleagues occasionally backed him up with a bit of harmony.

Moment of madness... Russell Slade's rather defeatist decision to take off a striker when Orient went down to ten men with the score at 1-1. He might as well have thrown in a towel than send on Elliot Omozusi - probably about as effective.

Knight in shining armour... George Porter looks to have a bit of spark - start him next game, he can't exactly do any worse - but expecting him alone to get Orient out of trouble is a bit like asking a Boy Scout to single-handedly eradicate Third World debt simply because he'd once raised £150 on a sponsored walk.

Pantomime horse... David Mooney is just one letter of the alphabet away from being a Rooney, although on the evidence of tonight's totally ineffective performance he has more in common with Coleen than Wayne.

In the dug out... No call for Slade's head from the stands just yet, but the manager cut a disconsolate figure in the technical area and it can't be long (a loss to Oldham on Saturday?) before Hearn's seen enough.

A word on the opponents... Although in a similarly low league position, Bournemouth showed Orient that it is actually possible to move the ball around the pitch with some sort of purpose. Marc Pugh and Wesley Thomas were a particular handful, but the whole team showed commitment - particularly when racing up to surround the referee after Scott Cuthbert's late but not red card-worthy challenge.

Meanwhile, on Twitter... If you follow Jimmy Smith on Twitter you'll know that the midfielder's days generally consist of nothing more than "Training - bath - bedtime". Today, however, Jimmy showed that sometimes he mixes things up a bit with "Training - take photo of Coxy having haircut - bath - bedtime." Tiny's standing up in that picture, by the way.

Lesson for the day... We've tried to win with 11 players - that didn't work. We've tried to win with 10 players - that didn't work either. Next week let's try nine - either that or play both Marc Laird and Leon McSweeney in midfield, which is much the same thing.

And from the darker reaches of Freeview HD...

Why five-goal defeats are good for Orient. Really...

(September 2012 update: I actually wrote this just after we'd been turned over 5-0 by Brighton on New Year's Day 2011. Orient then went on a record-breaking 17-game unbeaten run which, contrary to everything else on this blog, means I was actually correct. Five-goal defeats are good for Orient, so the loss at Goodison Park should be seen as a blessing in disguise. Right?)

Admittedly a 5-0 loss on 1 January isn't the best portent for the next year of football at Leyton Orient. But a look back over the last decade reveals that the Os have been turned over by a five-goal margin on four other occasions, and each time bounced back determinedly.

In other words, this could be a blessing in disguise. And while it's quite difficult to type while clutching a huge fistful of straws, I've amassed some evidence...

Leyton Orient 0 Swansea 5
6 October 2007

What happened? Incredible as it may sound now, Orient went into their 10th game of the 2007/08 season at the summit of League One. Fans were dreaming of promotion to the Championship and mouthwatering trips to the likes of Scunthorpe, Plymouth and Colchester. Unfortunately Swansea came to Brisbane Road and proved that Orient's early season form was just a Zepplin-sized blip, caused mostly by Martin Ling temporarily playing Sean Thornton in his correct position. Psychiatrist-bothering goalkeeper Stuart Nelson throwing four of the five goals into his own net probably didn't help.
But every cloud has a silver lining... In their next league game Orient bounced back with one of their most heroic performances of the decade, holding Leeds to a 1-1 draw at Elland Road despite having only 10 men for 60 minutes of the game and being on the wrong end of a litany of refereeing howlers.

Bournemouth 5 Leyton Orient 0
10 February 2007

What happened? In the 2006/07 season - with Orient back in the third tier - manager Martin Ling employed a quite visionary strategy known as, 'Just give the ball to Locky and hope for the best.' Unfortunately Bournemouth's Darren Anderton was familiar with such a ploy, having once played under the same system for England ('Give it to Gazza, hope for the best'). He scored a hatrick.
But every cloud has a silver lining... Although Orient lost their next league game 4-1 to Brighton, the combined shock of the two defeats spurred the team into a seven-match unbeaten run that allowed them to escape relegation by the skin of their teeth.

Doncaster Rovers 5 Leyton Orient 0
10 January 2004

What happened? Having been officially annointed as Orient manager in December 2004, Martin Ling was learning the ropes the hard way (ie trying to get results from a team containing Tom Newey, David Hunt and Billy Jones). Still, no one except every single Orient fan could have expected the team to go down so miserably to league leaders Doncaster.
But every cloud has a silver lining... A shell-shocked Orient went on to win their next two league games and the experience was part of the learning curve that led Martin Ling to take the team up two seasons later.

Carlisle United 6 Leyton Orient 1
12 January 2002

What happened? Back in the dark days of the early millennium, Orient's away form was like a unicorn. Non-existent. Still, the 100 or so dedicated masochists who made the long, mid-winter trip to Carlisle probably hoped that Orient wouldn't be 3-0 down in the first 18 minutes, or indeed 5-0 down at half-time. Still, if there was ever a manager to pull off a miraculous second-half recovery, it sure as hell wasn't Paul Brush...
But every cloud has a silver lining... Two weeks later Orient travelled to Goodison Park to play Everton in the fourth round of the FA Cup and put in a gutsy and convincing display against a Premier League team. They still lost 4-1, mind.

Leyton Orient 2 Bournemouth 2, 20/11/10

A game in which... Orient were committed, strong, pressurising, hard-working and vibrant. Unfortunately, however, this was only for the final 10 minutes of the game. The rest of the match painted a pretty accurate picture of Orient's standing in League One, as Bournemouth showed better passing, better movement, better pressing, better creativity, better ball retention, better shooting, better haircuts... You get the idea. Still, it was a rousing finish and a great point gained against a classy Bournemouth side.

Moment to savour... Jonathan Tehoue's second goal in added time, of course, in which he showed great strength and then composure to allow Orient to grasp a draw from the jaws of defeat.

Head in hands moment... Quite a few actually, mostly around loanee Premier League goalkeeper Jason Brown's repeated decisions to roll the ball out to defenders with opposition players in close proximity rather than lump it up the middle and hope for the best like you're supposed to in League One.

King for a day... Only one candidate here: Jonathan Tehoue. Some idiot who shall remain nameless complained after Tuesday's FA Cup replay that of late the Frenchman's cameos had been - like Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder - pretty unimpressive. Not so today - he stormed onto the pitch with a 'Get out of jail free' card in his pocket and was determined to use it. If Tehoue could play like that for 90 minutes in a row, Orient would probably win the league. Or at least not get relegated.

Boo boy... No one had a stinker, but there was a bit of a bad smell around pocket-sized antagonist Dean Cox who, by his own high standards, had a pretty ineffective game. Matthew Spring, however, showed that he could pass with 100 per cent accuracy - as long as it was backwards.

In the dug out... Big Russ seemed pretty upset with the South Stand after Orient equalised, probably due to the vocal griping about the 4-5-1 system the manager began the game with, which saw a striker who'd scored seven in the last six games playing right midfield. Still, Russ knows what he's doing and switched to 4-4-2 just in time for Bournemouth to go two up.

What would Martin Ling have done? Played 4-4-2, as he has done in every single game of entire management career. "People say I'm tactically inflexible," he'd say defiantly, "but I've used many different systems and formations. It's just that all of them involve four defenders, four midfielders and two strikers."

Going down? The spirit Orient showed in salvaging a point shows that there'll be grit in the team when they're in the midst of the late-season relegation battle. The way the Os were outclassed by Bournemouth, however, suggests they'll probably go down anyway.