Leyton Orient had to fight and scrap for win says boss

Ruel Sotiriou’s 20th-minute goal proved the difference between the teams at Brisbane Road, as O’s climbed above their rivals into 15th place.

And Wellens revealed he had mixed feelings at the final whistle.

“At the end of the game I didn’t know whether to laugh and smile or cry,” he told the club website.

“There’s been times this year when we’ve been really good and things haven’t gone our way, but we did fight and scrap for that win.

“You have to give Shrewsbury a lot of credit, they started really well. Maybe a draw was a fair result.

“Maybe at the end with the amount of chances we had we deserved to win it, but I think we could’ve possibly been 2-0 down as well.

“Ruel was in the right place at the right time, a good finish.”

O’s had beaten leaders Exeter City and drawn at Peterborough United in their previous two league outings, after a change in tactics.

And Wellens accepted the blame for his side not looking as slick on their return to home turf.

“We were nowhere near as smooth as what I want, maybe it’s my fault because we have played longer in the last two games, but our points return suggested it was the right decision to make,” he added.

“We tried to play a little bit more but we wasn’t smooth, wasn’t cohesive.

“But good save from the goalkeeper [Sol Brynn] when we need him. We won a lot of first contacts and if we didn’t we was there for a second ball.

“In terms of our desire and will to win, it was very good. At times our game management needs to improve, but it was a good win.”

Wellens made full use of the five substitutions available to him and praised their impact on the outcome.

“Our bench won us the game, no doubt about it,” he said.

“Dan Happe come on, we was wary of their size and physicality. Dan helped us with that.

“Jordan Brown came on in midfield, Ethan Galbraith again is knocking on the door to get in the team because he’s so good when he comes on.

“And then the front two [Aaron Drinan, Shaq Forde] for me, turned the game back in our favour.

“When you’re playing against teams like that, if you don’t get to the ball quick enough, or you’re in the wrong position, it’s going around your 18-yard box and you’ve got to win first and second contacts.

“There’s no rocket science about it. It’s tough to play against but if we was clever and we got that first pass off more, in terms of our midfield in the first half it never functioned. But we did fight and we did scrap.”

A crowd of 8,000 looked on in east London and Wellens felt his players could have done more to get them on the edge of their seats.

“I thought it [atmosphere] could’ve been better, but the way we played limited the supporters,” he said.

“In the last 10 minutes when they’re gambling and we can get them on the counter attack, I thought the crowd was good then.

“At times we didn’t help ourselves in terms of involving the crowd. Too slow, not enough quality. On the whole, the way the game went, the crowd were good.”