Leyton Orient have had tough start to season admits boss

Beaten 1-0 at Charlton on the opening day of the campaign, and 2-0 at Championship club Plymouth in a midweek Carabao Cup tie, O’s went down 4-0 in their first outing at Brisbane Road.

Marlon Pack and Colby Bishop struck in the first half, with an Omar Beckles own goal accounting for the third Pompey goal before Kusini Yengi’s late penalty.

And Wellens was left to rue more injuries in his camp, ahead of trips to Wycombe and Blackpool, telling the club website: “When you start any league, you want to get a settled team, what’s my best team, what works, what doesn’t.

“We’re just juggling loads of little things and we’re having to practise on a Saturday with lower numbers.

“We can’t keep making that excuse, we need people to be better in both boxes.

“I still think the players can take belief because some of the performances were very good, especially in that first half. It’s been a tough start.”

Goalkeeper Sol Brynn was ruled out of action late last week, which meant a Football League debut for Sam Howes.

And Wellens had sympathy for the former Wealdstone custodian, adding: “It’s tough with Sam. He doesn’t know until late in terms of his preparation.

“We’re just having little things go against us. We had all these moments in January last year.

“To be fair to the young lads they’ve stepped up and give it a right go, but we would like these lads back because we’ve got some really good players in the treatment room.

“We’ve got eight in the treatment room, the majority would be in contention to start.

“Max Sanders looked bright when he came on, you can see the skill and ability Jordan Graham has, another 70 minutes into Joe Pigott.

“Usually you put these people through their paces in pre-season, we’re having to do it on a matchday on Saturday.”

Wellens is hoping the club can bring in more new faces before the end of the transfer window, having seen the difference between his squad and that of Portsmouth.

“We need a bit of speed up front or in the attacking areas,” he said.

“[Aaron] Drinan and Dan Agyei would give us that. We are lacking.

“I thought Ruel [Sotiriou] was good, he give it a real good go. First half Theo [Archibald] was really good and Pigott, you can see flashes of quality. 

“We need a couple more. Especially when games are Saturday-Tuesday, the extra time being added on now.

“A little bit of a mismatch in the size of their squad and our squad, but really good at times, but at times a bit soft.”