Orient 4 Arsenal XI 4

Orient had to settle for a share of the spoils with the young Gunners after a thrilling friendly contest last night.

A last-minute equaliser from Danny Boateng denied Russell Slade’s men victory in their final outing before the new League One season begins at the weekend.

But a crowd of 3,413 will have gone home happy after Orient’s most entertaining contest of the summer.

The hosts took the lead on four minutes when Scott Cuthbert headed home from a Lloyd James corner.

And O’s doubled their advantage a minute later when Kevin Lisbie got on the end of another James delivery to nod home from close range.

Arsenal hit back through Wellington Silva on 11 minutes but Lisbie went close to making it 3-1 after being put through by Shaun Batt, when the right boot of Deyan Iliev denied him.

And the Gunners keeper kept out a Lisbie header before Silva grabbed his second goal of the night to level, after a mix-up between Cuthbert and Jamie Jones, on 42 minutes.

O’s regained the lead before the break, though, as David Mooney cut in from the left to smack a superb shot home from 20 yards.

And, despite wholesale changes during the interval, the home side went 4-2 up two minutes after the restart when a poor clearance fell to trialist Johnny Gorman, who slotted home from the edge of the box.

Arsenal hit back on 53 minutes through Chuba Akpom, who had gone close on two other occasions, to close the gap once more but Orient’s Jack Sherratt and George Bowerman both had decent attempts at the other end.

The lively Harrison Georgiou set up another chance for Bowerman, who was denied by a superb last-ditch tackle, before the Gunners squared matters late on.

Trialist Ben Sampayo saw his pass intercepted by Boateng, who tucked the ball home with virtually the last kick.

Orient, first half: Jones, Sawyer, Baudry, Clarke, Cuthbert, Mooney, Vincelot, James, Odubajo, Batt, Lisbie.

Second half: Jones, Vanderhyde, Omozusi, Finney, Sampayo, Gorman, Jenkins, Lee, Sherratt, Georgiou, Bowerman.

Subs not used: Larkins, Uzun, Okimeki, Marshall-Katung.

Arsenal: Iliev (Vikers 63), Moore, Siemann, Yennaris, Boateng, Hayden, Eisfeld, Olsson, Akpom (Lipman 75), Aneke, Silva (Jeffrey 69).