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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIn order to break the interminable boredom created by yet another ineffably pointless Interlull, CER and I decided to take in a game in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy where Arsenal\u2019s U-21 team were playing away at Brisbane Road, the venerable old stadium of Leyton Orient. The last time we were here was for a charity dinner to celebrate the 45th<\/sup> anniversary of the Arsenal vs Leyton Orient FA Cup semi-final, where we had the chance to chat to, amongst other people, the great Liam Brady. I think CER can now pass on as a happy man, having met his boyhood idol and found him to be a thoroughly nice chap, with rather good Italian as well \u2013 well. better than CER\u2019s!<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a balmy late summer evening in East London, in which several young Gunners impressed, and there was a relaxed atmosphere around Brisbane Road as Arsenal\u2019s youngsters were given the chance to impress against a side of men. This is always an interesting competition because it offers something different to youth football. Some of these players will look to go on loan and on last night\u2019s evidence, some of these players wouldn\u2019t look out of place in a senior lower league side. Orient named about six or seven players who could be considered regular starters and were clearly taking the competition seriously especially after losing their first four games of the season, leaving them propping up the League One table. Arsenal were without Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri, Setford and Aidan Heaven, all away on England U-19 duty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The East Londoners made the worst possible start when a poor kick out from \u2018keeper Howes fell to Josh Robinson who lashed home into an unguarded net giving Arsenal a lead after 3 minutes. We had been warned that there was something of a goalkeeper issue at The O\u2019s this season and the second-choice keeper unfortunately didn\u2019t do a lot to put pressure on the first team incumbent.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Orient dominated the ball, but Arsenal looked comfortable for the most part as they looked to stay compact. Three players stood out for us in this phase of the game \u2013 Jimi Gower (I guess his parents must be Hendrix fans?), Salah Eddine Oulad M\u2019Hand, a mouthful to say and a handful to play against in midfield, and right back Josh Robinson, the first goalscorer. They were all very comfortable on the ball and Robinson in particular showed he was both physically strong and with a great engine enabling him to make up ground at pace up and down the right flank. However, Orient found a leveller on 26 minutes as Tom James floated a cross into the box following a corner and Dan Happe, the big centre half, was there to head home past Bryan Okonkwo (brother of Arthur, formerly of this parish, now preaching the goalkeeping word up at Wrexham), who seemed to us to have come for the cross then stopped and been deceived by the flight, to use a cricketing term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The game continued to be attritional with both sides cancelling each other out until half time. Arsenal regained the lead ten minutes into the second period following a defensive mix up which left the rapid Ismail Kabia clean through as he slotted home. Orient continued to dominate possession and very nearly found their equaliser through Jamie Donley following an error from Okonkwo, but the \u2018keeper redeemed himself as he parried away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But the big moment of the game came as the clock struck 90 minutes, with Orient winning a pen following a Jimi Gower foul on Daniel Agyei. However, with the result on the line, Agyei fluffed his lines from 12 yards blasting well over the bar handing Arsenal a very welcome reprieve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, it was a well earned three points for Arsenal as they go top of a group which also contains Colchester United and MK Dons. In particular 21CG felt Jimi Gower and the rapid Ismail Kabia were impressive over the whole game. Given that the U21s were without Nwaneri and Myles Lewis Skelly, this was a very pleasing result against strong opposition. The most important thing of course is experience. It is all very well excelling in your own age group where there is a 15-yard gap between the two centre halves, but men\u2019s football is where the real test lies. And as a collective, this Arsenal side showed they are not out of place at this level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to watch some high-quality football at a lower league ground. It was a very different atmosphere to the high stakes of a game at the top of the Premier League, whilst both sides clearly wanted to win there was a very relaxed atmosphere around Brisbane Road aided by the warm hospitality we received and the excellent facilities. CER has the good fortune to have an old friend who provided the tickets as he is a season ticket holder at both Arsenal and The O\u2019s, and we really were treated well. While the Arsenal is on a far bigger scale, the club could really learn something from the friendliness and helpfulness of all the staff at The O\u2019s. If you have the opportunity to attend a game at The O\u2019s, you would do well to take it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We were really impressed by the quality of the pitch as well. Obviously, nothing compares to the carpet in N5, but you can see the evidence of the money that has gone into lower league football in recent years. Of course, Orient are not a million miles from the blinding lights of the Premier League, two divisions is not a lot but when you see these excellent facilities it makes you appreciate how strong the English Football pyramid really is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One small point, which is more for the O\u2019s than for Arsenal, is that away tickets were only publicised on Monday night for the Tuesday evening game. The Orient marketing team do seem to have missed a trick as it is very easy for any North London-based Gooners to get across and they would have been made most welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A year ago I (21CG) went to watch Chelmsford vs Maidstone in the National League North, three divisions below Orient, and even those facilities were impressive. It really is incredible that in such a small nation we have 92 professional clubs. In fact, there are more than 100 clubs with professional league status and for all the moaning about an imbalanced playing field (which is often justifiable) you can see why the standard is so high across the board. In a world where a player as good as Jude Bellingham came from a non-Premier League academy, Jamie Vardy rose through the non-league ranks and Dele Alli came through at MK Dons, it is no wonder England keeps churning out top quality footballers. Is this the case in other countries? I\u2019m not so sure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, a pleasing night for Hale End and we wish the very best of luck to Leyton Orient for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n COYG<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" with minor input from ClockEndRider In order to break the interminable boredom created by yet another ineffably pointless Interlull, CER and I decided to take in a game in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy where Arsenal\u2019s U-21 team were playing away at Brisbane Road, the venerable old stadium of Leyton Orient. The last time we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10010"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10010"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10027,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10010\/revisions\/10027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}