Orient will take on Carlisle in their first home game for three weeks with a spring in their step after seven points from nine on the road kept them in League One’s autmoatic promotion places.

Goals from Moses Odubajo and Scott Cuthbert secured a 2-0 win at Shrewsbury on Tuesday night, which moves them just a point behind league leaders Brentford.

Manager Russell Slade, who said these are ‘special times for the football club,’ was full of praise for the 144 away fans who made the trip to Shropshire on a bitterly cold night.

But he’s looking forward to running out in front of Orient’s home fans, and having beaten Carlisle 5-1 on the road on the opening day of the season, tomorrow is the perfect time for the O’s first home league win since the end of October.

Admittedly, that period only covers three games - defeats to Preston and Crawley and the draw against Sheffield United.

He said: “I’ll be delighted to be back in front of our home fans if we get a win.

“We’ve been superb on the road and we want to say a big thank you to the fans who’ve been following us.

“It’s been tough travelling so much, but the players have shown remarkable character.

“We need to keep the momentum going at home. We’re looking forward to getting back in front of our home fans and keeping the points ticking over.”

The manager thinks that game in August will have no bearing on the result especially considering the Cumbrians have changed their manager since with Graham Kavanagh replacing the sacked Greg Abbott.

“There’s no easy games in League One,” the 53-year-old said.

“You have to take every game on its merit, you have to give 100 per cent and can’t take anyone for granted.

“The new manager seems to have steadied the ship and made them tough to beat so we’re expecting a tough game.”

The planned New Year’s Day fixture with Bristol City was postponed due to structural damage to the floodlights, and the problem has now been fixed.

It means the last game at Brisbane Road was the 3-2 defeat to Crawley Town just before Christmas.

Slade is still looking to add an experienced striker to his squad to go along with the four loan signings he’s already made - goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic, midfielder Jamie Ness and strikers Shaquile Coulthirst and Jamar Loza.

While he mentioned no names the boss wants to bring in the new face as soon as possible to complete his squad.

Top scorer David Mooney and midfield workhorse Romain Vincelot won’t return until the Crewe game on January 18 at the earliest but the boss is delighted about the increasing strength of his squad.

“It’s nice to look at the bench and think about the options I have,” he said.

Marvin Bartley picked up a knock at Shrewsbury but Slade’s hopeful he’ll recover in time to figure.

Slade added: “Marvin’s had a stiff back which has been troubling. He didn’t train on Thursday, we hope he’ll be ready but he’s a doubt.”