Leyton Orient have game plan to execute at Exeter City

O’s make the long trip to Devon with head coach Richie Wellens serving a touchline ban after his red card at Wycombe was upheld by the FA.

And they travel with only four points from six games so far, while the Grecians top the table on goal difference from Bolton Wanderers.

“They’ve had a really good start to the season, they’re up there, doing really well at the minute, but we’re going to have a game plan going into it and if we can execute that we feel we can be successful,” Terry told the club website.

“We’ve had a little time to look at them, worked on a few bits, work on a few bits Friday ready for the game on Saturday.

“They’re consistent in everything they do. They put balls in the channel, they compete, they scrap and when they need to tidy the game up they can play as well.

“You don’t the start the season like they have being an average team, they’re a good side, they’ve got good experience and they’re up there for a reason. But it’s down to us to work out a way to combat that.”

O’s suffered more disciplinary problems in midweek, with loanees Shaq Forde and Brandon Cooper – who was making his debut – sent off in their EFL Trophy clash at Gilligham.

The hosts came from behind to beat the nine men with two late goals and Terry said there were positives in defeat.

“There was a lot of positives, a lot of positive performances, individually and collectively, so I think there was a lot to come out of the game,” he added.

“When you have two men sent off in quick succession it does take its toll and has an affect on how the game pans out and that showed.

“But for the first 60 minutes I think we can be really pleased with what we see and what we got out of the lads.”

Forde and Cooper were dismissed around the hour mark, with O’s leading thanks to an unfortunate own goal from Glenn Morris, as a shot from George Moncur hit a post and the goalkeeper’s back before finding the net.

Cheye Alexander levelled from the spot on 80 minutes, though, and an Omar Beckles own goal proved decisive as Idris El Mizouni and Ruel Sotiriou went close during nine minutes of injury time.

“We’re down to nine men and there’s nine minutes added on at the end and that takes a toll on the players,” said Terry.

“We can’t plan for how much stoppage time they’re adding on, you just never know. One week they add two minutes on, the next week they add nine or 10.

“I don’t know where they get their numbers from but it is what it is, we can’t keep complaining about things, we’ve just got to get on with it and deal with it.

“We’ve got all the protocols in place to recover, so we’re ready to go again. The lads recovered well, the lads that didn’t play have trained a little bit harder and then we go again on Friday ready for the game.”

O’s made eight changes at Priestfield in midweek and, with players regaining fitness, there should be plenty of options for the coaching staff this weekend.

And Terry is hoping they can feed off the energy of the travelling supporters to produce a positive result at St James Park.

“We’ve got a squad, we’ve built a squad and now we’ve got them back from injury, everyone is ready to compete for a starting shirt,” he said.

“That’s what we wanted and what we’ve managed to build so we’ve got competitiveness all over the pitch now.

“The fans have been great. Even at Gillingham they still made a lot of noise. They’ve been class all season for us and we just need it again. 

“Keep spurring the lads on, keep getting behind them. We’re nearly where we want to be but we need that extra support from them to keep going.”