Leyton Orient head coach Richie Wellens praised his players for putting their “bodies on the line” as his side picked up their first Sky Bet League One points of the season with a deserved 1-0 victory at Reading.
Charlie Kelman scored the only goal of the game, his third of the campaign, in the 27th minute as rookie Reading goalkeeper Coniah Boyce-Clarke allowed Kelman’s 20-yard shot to squirm out of his grasp and into the net.
“What epitomised our performance today was the two loudest cheers from our supporters,” Wellens said.
“The first one was when we scored the goal, the second when the players were putting in blocks and putting their bodies on the line.
“It was a really good performance. I thought that Reading started well in the first 10 minutes but after that we dominated the first half. I don’t think they had a shot on our goal.
“Reading kept going, put us under a little bit of pressure at the end and had a few opportunities.
“But we kept putting in all those blocks and I thought that Zach (Orient keeper, Hemming) was outstanding today.
“That will do his confidence the world of good as he’s a good kid and we thank him for the three points today. He was excellent.
“We could have made it easier for ourselves. At times, our game-management and our decision-making needed to be better.
“But, as I’ve said before, we’re a work in progress and we’ll just keep getting better.”
Reading lost their 100 per cent home record and Royals boss Ruben Selles said: “I was disappointed with our performance today.
“We never achieved the high tempo in which we like to play and we were caught in some situations that we should not be in.
“In the end, the key moments went for them (Orient).
“We started the game well and had a couple of chances but we never quite recovered (from going 1-0 down) in the first half.
“We tried hard in the second half and we had a couple of chances to score but, overall, we just weren’t at our best today.”
Selles excused Boyce-Clarke for his error in only his second league start.
“I didn’t feel that he had a bad performance,” Selles said. “It’s just that, in the position of the goalkeeper, you always magnify what happens.
“These things happen in the game and we will always defend those actions.
“Other things happen, too, and you just have to correct them and be better next time.”
Selles confirmed that Reading’s number one keeper, Joel Pereira, will be out until October after sustaining an ankle injury in training.
“Joel had a scan and he’s going to be out for some weeks,” Selles said. “We don’t expect him back until after the next international break [next month].”
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