ORIENT skipper Stephen Purches is confident his side can bounce back from Tuesday night s shattering FA Cup defeat, WRITES TREVOR DAVIES. A goal from Ash Taylor eight minutes from time saw struggling Tranmere record only their second away success of the s

ORIENT skipper Stephen Purches is confident his side can bounce back from Tuesday night's shattering FA Cup defeat, WRITES TREVOR DAVIES.

A goal from Ash Taylor eight minutes from time saw struggling Tranmere record only their second away success of the season to knock the O's out of the competition in a first round replay.

Tranmere are the visitors to Brisbane Road again on Saturday for a league clash and they will be aiming to build on that victory as they look to scramble out of the bottom four.

With O's currently just one place above the drop zone, Purches knows the side have to find a response and put Tuesday night's defeat behind them.

"We have to, because Saturday is coming quick," admitted the O's skipper after the game.

"We have to get ourselves thinking about what we need to do. We have got a couple of days training to get ready for the game and make sure we are in the right frame of mind."

Just 1,518 turned up to watch Tuesday's replay and the frustrated home fans booed Orient off at the end and the O's skipper confirmed the cup exit was hard to take.

"It hurts like every defeat does, but we have got to stick together and think that Saturday will be a better result," he said.

"We have got to do the right thing, find that cutting edge in the final third, and produce. It's as simple as that."

And Purches insists the side will go into Saturday's game confident of turning things around. "We have got to go into it believing we can win it and there has got to be that belief.

"It's the first time we have lost here in a while and so we want to get back to that. The line's been drawn and we have got to move on from there and go forward."

If the O's could bounce back to winning ways, it would give them a nine-point buffer over Tranmere who are currently second from bottom and Purches does not want to be dragged into a relegation dog fight again.

"We're well aware of the situation we're in and it's not something you want to be talking about this early in the season," he admitted.

"But it's there and both teams will be looking at it the same way and I don't think too much will change from their game plan.

"So it's going to be pretty much the same set-up and if we can be a little more cut throat, then I'm sure we can go on and win the game."

Tuesday night's defeat was the second time Orient have gone out of a cup competition in the space of eight days, following their exit from the Johnstone's Paints Trophy at the hands of Hereford and, in many ways, it was a similar story.

Orient had plenty of possession, but rarely threatened the Tranmere goal, and the O's skipper said: "We have got to learn from every game we play in.

"They probably had one attempt at goal. I'm not saying we had loads, but it's a kick in the teeth.

"They came here to frustrate and we did what we could, trying to keep it out of our area and they had one or two shots over the 90 minutes."

Despite the defeat, defender Tamika Mkandawire and midfielder Adam Chambers returned to the side following injury and both Luke Summerfield and Andros Townsend will be available for Saturday's game after they were cup-tied on Tuesday night.