Boss Richie Wellens hailed a ‘brilliant performance’ as Leyton Orient rounded off a perfect week with a 2-0 League One victory at Wigan.
Having beaten Oldham in the FA Cup last weekend and Bristol Rovers in midweek, the O’s made it a hat-trick against a lacklustre Latics side at The Brick Community Stadium.
In dreadful conditions, Jayden Sweeney opened the scoring after 41 minutes with his first goal for the club.
After former Wigan loan striker Charlie Kelman had missed a gilt-edged opportunity to make it two, Diallang Jaiyesimi took advantage of a defensive mix-up to make the game safe with seconds left.
“It was a brilliant performance,” said Wellens. “I thought we started the game really well, for long periods of the first half we controlled the ball, and some of our play was good.
“There were parts of the second half we had to dig in a little, even though we didn’t concede any chances on our goal, Wigan moved the ball really well.
“We think Charlie has the game wrapped up at the end but to then get the second goal, I think it completes a very good performance in difficult conditions for both teams.
“If you are going to play in conditions like this, at least we had a big stadium that kind of controlled the elements a little bit.
“We got a lot of the game right today. We controlled the ball against a possession-based team but we also didn’t turn down forward passes when they were on.
“It was an early start for everyone and for the fans to travel all this way up, we thank each and every one of them for making the effort.
“The weather could also have put a lot of people off but that win was for them and I hope they enjoyed it.”
It was another frustrating afternoon for Wigan boss Shaun Maloney, with his side barely managing an effort on goal during the 90 minutes.
“There were two parts of that game,” said Maloney. “I thought the first 30 minutes was fine and the game then became sort of 50/50 for the next 15 minutes and the second half.
“We conceded two bad goals but I would say the performance in the second half wasn’t good.
“It never felt like we were threatening them. We could get into certain areas but we were unable to create any big chances and we’re really struggling in that final third at the moment.
“There’s definitely moments over the last few games where we have been good, getting into one-v-one situations.
“But probably our positioning in the box and our intent to attack the ball has been at much higher levels than it has been today.
“It felt from pretty early on in the second half that the game was just drifting. And on days like this, that’s when I expect our defensive line to be strong and we weren’t.
“The two goals we conceded were poor so from sitting here and talking to you about a 0-0, I’m talking about a 2-0 defeat.
“You also have to respect Leyton Orient, and the way they played and pressed us, and how they defended their box.
“But the two goals, they’re really, really poor from our point of view.”
