Leyton Orient boss Russell Slade insists his side’s poor run of form should be no cause for concern

Russell Slade insists there is no panic in the Leyton Orient camp as they prepare for the visit of Brentford on Saturday in search of their first win in six games.

The 2-0 defeat at Tranmere means the O’s have collected just two points from a possible 15 since their victory at Bournemouth last month.

The run has left Slade’s side looking over their shoulders again, although they currently sit six points above the drop zone.

But the manager remains full of self-belief and says there is no cause for alarm.

Slade said: “We’re certainly not panicking and we have to remain positive.

“We’ve not won in five outings, but even a great team like Tottenham have lost their last three games, so these runs can happen to anyone.

“We’ve been a bit unfortunate in recent times. We drew against Bury and Walsall when I thought we should have won.

“We had a horrendous 45 minutes at Wycombe when we lost 4-2, but had a much better second half.

“And overall our performance at Tranmere on Saturday wasn’t too bad.

“We could have opened the scoring and went behind to a goal that should have been disallowed for handball.

“Scoring the first goal in games makes a massive difference.”

The O’s endured a dreadful start to the campaign when they failed to win any of their first 10 league games.

But they showed character to climb to mid-table with a 10-game unbeaten run.

And Slade believes his players can draw on their early-season experiences.

He said: “Obviously, the longer a winless run continues the more you have to think about how confidence has been affected.

“But we had a difficult time at the start of the season and so we have got the experience of recovering from that.

“We know that things can quickly turn in your favour and that a few wins will put us back on track.”

The O’s were thrashed 5-0 at Brentford last August and the boss admits his men will try to use that result to inspire extra motivation.

Slade said: “We’re only human, so we’ll remember that result.

“But we’ll use it in a positive way if we can. We’re in a need of a positive performance and a positive result.”

The O’s signed three players last week in the form of Jamie Smith, Adam Reed and Jamal Campbell-Ryce.

Smith has signed a short-term deal until the end of the season, while Reed and Campbell-Ryce are on loan from Sunderland and Bristol City respectively.

The two loan signings started at Tranmere last weekend, but Campbell-Ryce lasted just 45 minutes before suffering an ankle injury.

And the winger is struggling to be fit for Saturday.

Slade said: “Jamal hasn’t been able to train so far this week, so he has to be considered a major doubt.

“The injury situation has made things difficult this week.

“On Tuesday we had 11 players missing from training, but I’m hopeful that we can get three or four back for Saturday.”

On a brighter note, Slade was happy with the display of midfielder Reed on his debut at Tranmere.

He said: “I was really pleased with his performance.

“He spent more time on the ball than anybody and had good energy, so I was delighted with his display.”

The O’s face a difficult run-in, with games against MK Dons on Tuesday night, Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton, Huddersfield, Notts County and Sheffield United.

But Slade added: “We have some good games to look forward to and have played well against some of the top teams this season.”