Leyton Orient 2 Tranmere Rovers 1 TWO goals from veteran striker Scott McGleish saw Orient bounce back from their FA Cup defeat, as they gained instant revenge over Tranmere Rovers on Saturday, writes TREVOR DAVIES. Orient, who had crashed out of the cup

Leyton Orient 2

Tranmere Rovers 1

TWO goals from veteran striker Scott McGleish saw Orient bounce back from their FA Cup defeat, as they gained instant revenge over Tranmere Rovers on Saturday, writes TREVOR DAVIES.

Orient, who had crashed out of the cup four days earlier at the hands of Rovers, gained valuable points as the striker put them ahead midway through the first half.

Tranmere levelled soon afterwards through Charlie Barnett, but McGleish popped up with the winner 20 minutes from time, as O's took the points to ease their relegation fears.

After the game Orient boss Geraint Williams, who came under fire from the fans following the club's FA Cup exit last week said: "It's a good three points, it's been coming to be fair, a few people thought I have been talking rubbish, but that's part of the job.

"I thought we gave a very good performance today, we asked the players to come out with a bit of tempo, which was lacking in midweek. We have got to set the tempo when the ball's on the pitch and the players did that from the first whistle."

Williams was full of praise for on-loan Spurs winger Andros Townsend, who played a key role in the success.

"Andros is an exciting talent, when he's on the pitch you never know what's going to come next. He must be a defender's nightmare, so it's good to have him, but we have got to be careful, he's a young man and you don't want to burn him out.

"The one thing he has got is that electric pace. You look at him in training and sometimes it's heavy going for him and we try and protect him because he is Tottenham's player.

"They are delighted with what we're doing and he's delighted to be here. Hopefully, it will continue for a long time yet."

Little was seen of Tranmere as an attacking force early on, but the live wire Chris Shuker hooked one effort just wide of the far post, before O's broke the deadlock.

Another smart interchange down the left saw Townsend thread the ball through to Jarvis and he found strike partner McGleish, who hammered the ball from 20 yards into the bottom right hand corner.

Tranmere hit back when John Welsh fired in a speculative shot from 30 yards that goalkeeper Morris could only parry and Barnett reacted first and sent the rebound crashing into the net, as the teams were level at the break.

It was O's who grabbed the winner 20 minutes from time, when Sean Thornton's excellent cross from the left was met by McGleish, who had timed his run to perfection and flicked the ball home from six yards.

As Tranmere pushed forward, O's looked the more likely side to add to their tally and Luke Summerfield could have put the issue beyond doubt in the last 10 minutes.

First he shot wide after Jimmy Smith set him up and then he fired over following another Townsend run.

"A cup run would have been lovely but if I had to choose, I would take the points," said Williams.

"We started off okay in the season. But we had a meeting and a good talk on Thursday and did a lot of good work on the training ground on Friday and it came to fruition.

"If we get the balls into the box the forwards will score.