Leyton Orient 1 Millwall 0 A STUNNING strike from substitute Andros Townsend gave Orient their first League One win since the opening day of the season, writes TREVOR DAVIES. The winger, on loan from Spurs, had been on the pitch for less than two minutes

Leyton Orient 1 Millwall 0

A STUNNING strike from substitute Andros Townsend gave Orient their first League One win since the opening day of the season, writes TREVOR DAVIES.

The winger, on loan from Spurs, had been on the pitch for less than two minutes when he fired home the only goal of the game to settle Saturday's robust derby.

It was Orient's first home win of the season and boss Geraint Williams acknowledged it was a weight off his players' shoulders to finally register three points at Brisbane Road.

"I'd been playing down the fact that we hadn't won here before today, because it's important to keep the players positive, but it's a monkey off our backs and it's something to build on," admitted the Orient boss.

Townsend was only on the pitch as Jason Demetriou had suffered a gashed head minutes earlier.

Williams explained: "The doc said Jason could come back on if we waited for him to get stitched up, but I just felt that because Millwall are such a powerful side, if we had to wait several minutes it could hurt us.

"So I took the decision to bring Andros on. It was a like-for-like swap and he made a great impact."

Andrew Cave-Brown replaced skipper Stephen Purches, with Tamika Mkandawire taking the captain's armband, while there was a first start for loan signing Luke Summerfield.

In a frenetic derby, chances were few and far between in the first half and although O's failed to create too many opportunities, they did roll up their sleeves and were prepared to battle.

Mkandawire blocked an early shot from Ali Fuseini, as the O's defence, with Ben Chorley outstanding, repelled anything Millwall threw at them.

However, the best chance of the half fell to James Scowcroft, who latched on to Chorley's pass, but could not find a finish from six yards, while Mkandawire headed over a Demetriou free-kick.

After the break, Steve Morison flashed a header wide, before Townsend replaced Demetriou, who needed several stitches in a head wound.

Charlie Daniels made a great tackle, before O's grabbed the lead on 57 minutes. JJ Melligan's cross was half-cleared by Jack Smith, but the ball fell to Townsend, who fired a fierce shot across Millwall goalkeeper David Forde into the bottom left-hand corner.

Shortly afterwards, Townsend had another excellent effort tipped away by Forde and even the introduction of former O's star Gary Alexander could not halt Orient's victory charge.