Exeter manager Gary Caldwell felt his side got what they deserved as they were knocked off the top of the table in a 2-1 home defeat by Leyton Orient, whose winner came in stoppage time.
With seven players out through injury or on international duty, it was a lacklustre performance form a very young Exeter team, who went in front against the run of play through Demetri Mitchell’s spectacular strike four minutes after half-time.
But Joe Pigott levelled for the Os before Ruel Sotiriou’s long-range strike went over the hands of Exeter goalkeeper Gary Woods gave the Londoners a deserved victory.
“It was a really disappointing result and a disappointing performance overall,” Caldwell said. “We didn’t get going at any point in the match and we got what we deserved really.
“Leyton Orient deserved to win the game and we could have been a few goals down in the first half. It was a disappointing performance, but I said to the players I am not going to get overly cross with them.
“They have been fantastic and given so much, but this was a game where we dropped below the level and the standards we’ve set and we have to take that bump in the road and do something about it next week.
“We had eight players out today, but that’s not an excuse – that’s the reality and what it does is give opportunities to others.
“With the drinks break, half-time and the goal, there were plenty of opportunities for us to spark into life, but we never got going at any stage. The goal was a special moment and even after that, we still looked second best.”
Orient boss Richie Wellens felt his side were well worth the win at St James Park.
He said: “We were totally dominant in the first half. We hit the crossbar twice, we had three or four situations where we could have scored and, apart from one breakaway from Demetri Mitchell, there was no threat at all.
“We came out after half-time to build on that performance and their lad hits an absolute worldie and you are thinking maybe that’s our luck.
“But we never felt sorry for ourselves and we kept doing the basics right. That was a big thing today. Set-plays were good for and against, and even when we got it back to 1-1, I thought we were the dominant team.
“I thought Joe Pigott had his best game. He was a real handful and won his fair share of duels with the centre-halves. When you play really well, strikers want to see their names on the scoresheet, so it was a really good finish.
“Forget his goalscoring, I want a platform, something to play off especially when you are away from home. We needed to make sure we gave ourselves a platform and Joe was that.
“We could have scored a lot of goals today, so that was really pleasing.”
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