Head coach Richie Wellens said he feels there is 'a lot of potential' to take Leyton Orient forward and be successful.

Wellens saw O's make it three wins in a week with a 2-0 success over Barrow at the Breyer Group Stadium, thanks to second-half goals from Paul Smyth and Ruel Sotiriou.

The League Two outfit are unbeaten in five games under the new boss and have not tasted defeat in seven matches, as they climb further away from the relegation zone.

And Wellens, who celebrated his 42nd birthday on Saturday, told the club website: "In terms of performance it was ok. I think our supporters are fantastic, because every time we moved it with a bit of tempo in the first half we made chances.

"I thought the atmosphere in the ground was excellent and we have a lot of potential to build this club forward and take it forward and be successful."

Sotiriou hit the crossbar from a free-kick and Aaron Drinan saw one effort blocked and put another just wide as the first half remained goalless.

But Smyth broke the deadlock on 52 minutes, curling the ball into the net from a wide position, and Wellens added: "He has the potential to be the best player in the league.

"His injuries have obviously frustrated him this season but lets finish the season strongly with him, manage his minutes so we don't have nothing recurring.

"Lets bring him back next year firing because he has the potential to be the best in the league."

Sotiriou doubled the advantage just past the hour mark, netting his sixth goal in seven matches, and Wellens praised the work of all his attacking players.

He said: "He (Sotiriou) was effective at times. He was in and out of the game today, I don't think it was his best performance.

"But when you're scoring goals, obviously his confidence is high, he's took to me and I've definitely took to him.

"Drinan's not scored today, he was excellent. Theo Archibald run his socks off, very, very effective and Harry Smith comes on and really takes the game back to us in the last 15-20 minutes. We've got front players that really affect the game."

A second successive clean sheet, after the 3-0 midweek success at Harrogate Town, was also cause for optimism and down to all members of the team, according to the boss.

"Positive again. Vigs (Lawrence Vigouroux) for me is performing really well. But also good for the two centre-halves and two full-backs. And also Hector (Kyprianou)," he added.

"But the whole team, everybody says clean sheets are for the goalkeeper and back four, but you see the way we press from the front, the amount of times the defenders have to defend is a lot lower because of the job the front players are doing."

Orient are back in action on Tuesday with a trip to Oldham Athletic, for whom Wellens made 101 appearances during his playing career and then got his first managerial job.

And he hinted at some possible changes to his O's side, adding: "Sometimes we looked a bit leggy which is understandble, but we've got a squad and I think we're going to have to start utilising the squad against Oldham, because again it's a long journey.

"The Saturday to Tuesday recovery is a lot shorter than the Tuesday to Saturday, but everybody is performing well. The standard of training at the moment with the lads that are not playing is exceptionally high.

"If you're a club and you want to be successful, the players that are not in your squad or starting XI, the level they train at has a knock-on effect upwards. So the fact they're training really well is putting the starting XI in good stead."