Slade: We hung in there

Leyton Orient boss Russell Slade was delighted to see his side come through an entertaining first round tie against Coventry in the Capital One Cup last night.

Kevin Lisbie’s last-minute header sealed a 3-2 win over ten-man Coventry, after Jamie Jones had saved a Leon Clarke penalty.

And Slade felt it had been a great night of entertainment at Brisbane Road, saying: “For the neutral I thought it was a great game, not for me at times.

“Sometimes our defending uncharacteristically wasn’t the greatest, but we managed to dig in and showed great spirit, which is what the group is all about. We hung in there and managed to get the winner.”

Carl Baker put the visitors ahead midway through the first half, but Lisbie levelled after David Mooney’s volley was saved by Joe Murphy and Dean Cox fired O’s 2-1 in front before the break.

Baker saw red for a lunging tackle on Romain Vincelot on the hour, but Franck Moussa levelled from 20 yards and Coventry were given a great chance to move ahead when Scott Cuthbert conceded a penalty for a challenge on Clarke.

Jones kept out Clarke’s spot-kick, though, and Lisbie nodded home from a Moses Odubajo cross to clinch victory for O’s with normal time almost up.

Slade added: “The first 25 minutes certainly belonged to Coventry, they deserved to get their noses in front.

“But we hit back quickly, I think that was important, and that seemed to settle us down a little bit and we finished the half slightly on top.

“That was encouraging to go in with a 2-1 lead, maybe a bit fortunate to go in 2-1 up, but we go in with that all-important lead.

“The second period, credit to Coventry they came back even though they’re down to 10 men. They’ve come back at us, but the penalty save was key for me.

“It seemed to galvanise us again I thought and from then on, after the penalty save people rolled their sleeves up and that spirit that we’ve got and that focus and that commitment all came out and there was only going to be one winner I felt in the last 10 minutes.

“And I’m glad it was in the 90 minutes because we didn’t want another 30, that’s for sure.

“It was a cracking cup tie, you don’t see too many round one cup ties like that, but both teams from that point of view played their part and credit to Coventry.

“The all important thing in these cup games is to get through and we’ve won our first league game of the season, the key now is to recover in time ready for Shrewsbury on Saturday.”