Mathieu Baudry hopes to keep his place for Sunday's FA Cup tie Pic: Simon O'Connor

Defender wants to keep his place for Alfreton trip

Orient will be aiming to book their place in the third round of the FA Cup when they travel to Blue Square Premier side Alfreton Town on Sunday.

And one man looking forward to the clash is French defender Mathieu Baudry, who made a rare start last weekend against Preston when he deputised for injured skipper Nathan Clarke and he looks set to keep his place for the banana-skin tie.

Baudry has spent the majority of the season on the substitutes’ bench since joining the O’s in the summer from Bournemouth.

But he turned in a man-of-the-match performance against Preston, topped off with a goal, and he hopes to keep his place for the trip to Alfreton.

“You are never happy to see someone get injured,” he said. “Especially ‘Clarkie’, he’s a top lad.

“But every player here wants to play week-in week-out, so I will give it my best and give 110 per cent to try and keep my spot.”

Baudry has started eight games – four in the league and four in the cups including the FA Cup first round tie at Gloucester City.

The 24-year-old, who was born in Le Havre, has never enjoyed a good cup run during his career and that’s something he is hoping to put right.

“I’ve not got a big history in the cup. Hopefully this will be a start,” he said.

“We want to do something good. If we win this one, the Premier League teams are coming in, so it can be a good experience for the club. We want to keep the run going, so it’s very important to win.”

Orient go into the game as favourites and the former Troyes player-of-the-year added: “It’s a completely different context, a bit like when we played Gloucester. We have to respect the team and do the right stuff and, if you do the right stuff, you normally win the game.

“It’s an important game and I am looking forward to it. We are in a big run and the last FA Cup game helped us, it gave us confidence.”

Orient go into the game on the back of five straight wins and the defender believes results are starting to come as the side gels.

“We know each other more, we are more confident on the ball,” he said.

“We know what we have to do. When you get a win you get more confident and we are finding the net as well.”

Baudry, who played 26 games for Troyes after joining them in 2006, was pleased to be back at the heart of the defence last Saturday.

“I have always played there, so I feel more comfortable and I know what to do,” he said, after making his first league start since September.

“It’s been a long time and it’s been really hard because every professional player wants to play and it’s frustrating.

“But I was ready to come on the pitch and do my job and I am happy for the team.”