Slade believes the signs are encouraging

Orient boss Russell Slade believes his side are starting to turn the corner despite their Johnstone’s Paint Trophy exit against local rivals Dagenham & Redbridge.

After the game ended in a 1-1 draw the tie was decided on penalties and in an astonishing shoot-out the first 27 kicks were all successfully converted, before O’s skipper Ben Chorley saw his effort saved by Daggers keeper James Shea.

But despite the disappointing exit Slade said: “I still think we’re going the right way. There are signs of us coming back. It’s difficult when you lose that continuity on the pitch and when you lose the influence of your skipper at half time.

“But we’re getting closer, we just need a real focus and a real effort to turn the corner.”

The O’s chief felt a little hard done by to go out after he had watched his side create the better chances.

“It’s disappointing, but I felt we should have won the game in 90 minutes,” he said.

“We should have been in front before they scored the first goal. Jonathan Tehoue had a fantastic opportunity to put us in front and on another day Jimmy Smith would have had a goal or two.

“There were some really good opportunities to score and that’s not easy againsat Dagenham. On previous occasions there have been very few opportunties between the two teams.”

The O’s chief admitted he had never witnessed such a drama-drenched finale: “I have never known a shoot-out like it. I didn’t think it would go that far,” he said.

“There were some really good penalties and it’s a shame someone had to bow out in the end and it was our number one penalty taker (Ben Chorley) that’s unfortunately missed.

“But it sort of sums up our start to the season and nothing is going rihgt for us at the moment.”

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