After such a poor performance at Rushden last weekend, and with three loan players sitting out that game at Nene Park, it was almost inevitable that all three players would be given roles in the starting line-up for the League One match at Brisbane Road. Martin Cranie was one of those, playing for his hometown club nine years after he left a Yeovil Under 12s side for the then Premiership side Southampton. He displaced Anthony Tonkin who was suffering from a calf injury. Martin Brittain was restored to right wing, whilst Marcus Stewart came in for Wayne Gray. A bit of pre-match readjustment was needed in the away end as well - Orient had made a complete hash of estimating the travelling numbers from Somerset and the build-up to the game was spent with the large contingent in the main stand being shuffled about by Orient stewards having to belatedly make extra blocks available to the Glovers. Previous experience of Yeovil visiting Brisbane Road would have told those responsible at Orient to expect those numbers - this should have hardly been a surprise to them.

If last week had been lethargic from a Yeovil Town point of view, the start to this week's game was frenetic, with the players showing clear signs that they wanted to put their FA Cup blues behind them. During an opening period where Yeovil certainly had the better of play, a rising shot by Chris Cohen cleared the crossbar. Some pace and movement was on the whole putting Orient on the backfoot even if they were on the whole keeping enough men behind the ball to stop the Yeovil front line from getting absolute chances on goal.

Orient's first attempt at getting anywhere near Steve Mildenhall's goal came from a Matthew Lockwood corner, where the crowded penalty box gave Mildenhall very little room to break through and punch the ball clear, and when the ball dropped to Orient's Shane Tudor, he shot but again found that same crowd blocking his route to goal, with Terrell Forbes able to block the attempt.

Two minutes later, and the home side's rare pushing up into the Yeovil half almost caught them off-guard. Arron Davies received a defence-splitting pass that was perfectly timed for him to run onto, and he unleashed a typical edge-of-area drive that keeper Glyn Garner managed to deflect out for a corner. Five minutes later and Davies repeated the attempt again - but this time went even closer with Garner clipping the ball onto his near post and out for a corner. Chris Cohen lifted the ball over the crossbar again as he sliced an inside pass from Nathan Jones who had moved up high on the left flank to partner Cohen.

Orient weren't having a good time of it, and half an hour into the match made their first substitution. Given that the player going off - Donny Barnard - didn't appear to be injured, it would appear to have been an attempt to try and match Orient's players up with Yeovil's own formation in an attempt for the home side to find their markers - certainly the likes of Davies, Barry and Cohen were finding it all too easy to ghost their way through the midfield without anyone in particular getting close to them at any time.

Not that it particularly changed the pattern of play - or at least not immediately anyway. Yet another weaving Davies run saw him reach the edge of the area, but in a sublime piece of skill he feigned to shoot, drew his man and having sold a dummy neatly side-footed the ball into the path of the incoming Anthony Barry, whose first time shot was yet again denied by the outstretched fingertips of Glyn Garner, down at the foot of his post, and again out for another corner.

Adam Chambers landed in the book for bringing down Chris Cohen from behind after he had frustrated the Orient team by dancing his way down the left flank - Chambers eventually deciding the only way he could stop Cohen was illegally. Overall this had been a positive first half, and bar that single moment when Yeovil couldn't clear their lines from a corner properly, pretty much all of the play had been down one end of the park, and certainly the half time team talk would be a relatively easy one for Russell Slade.

The second half opened with Orient having apparently addressed some of their problems in marking Yeovil players and getting forward themselves. Gary Alexander, who had been almost unnoticeable during the first period, finally got the ball at his feet and let fly from distance. However his shot took a heavy deflection off Nathan Jones who had moved in to block the shot and the ball span out for a corner with Steve Mildenhall comfortably covering his left hand post.

Ten minutes into the second half though, Anthony Barry reminded Orient that Yeovil were still a force to be reckoned with, as his rising shot went goalbound. Glyn Garner, however, was there once again, and he palmed the ball over the crossbar for a corner. Certainly you couldn't accuse the Yeovil players of being afraid to shoot on sight in this game.

With play though decidedly more at the Yeovil end of the pitch in this period, the Glovers had an extremely lucky let-off two minutes later. Matthew Lockwood stole in down the left flank and the full-back whipped in a ball that deflected off a Yeovil defender's head at the near post, completely wrongfooting Steve Mildenhall who had been coming out to collect. With the goal gaping and Mildenhall on the deck, a goal for Jabo Ibehre seemed academic, but Martin Cranie was as cool as a cucumber and had calmly made his way to the goal-line where he was on hand to execute a clearance to Ibehre's attempt to stroke the ball home. As the ball came loose again, a wild shot saw the home side clear Yeovil's crossbar for a goal kick.

Orient's ascendancy continued, and Wayne Corden was wasteful when a near-perfect right wing cross skidded across the Yeovil area just in front of the six yard box - too far in front for Mildenhall to claim, and just able to evade the desperate boot of Mark Lynch who was attempting to cover on that flank. Thankfully Corden could only find Row Z of the new South Stand at Brisbane Road, but Yeovil were looking a little stretched during this second period for sure.

Shane Tudor was another player to clear Mildenhall's crossbar when he shot from 25 yards out when a loose ball out of the Yeovil defence presented itself to him midway through the second half, with the Yeovil keeper helping it on its way and out for a corner. Wayne Corden also found another long ranger deflected by a Yeovil defender and out for a corner.

Of course Yeovil are always dangerous on the break when they soak up pressure away from home, and they gave a perfect demonstration of why Orient shouldn't assume it was all going to go their way during the second period with just 20 minutes to go. Marcus Stewart, who had been almost becoming a sixth midfielder during the second period in an attempt to see something of the ball, collected and turned out on the right flank, setting Martin Brittain free down the wing. Brittain beat his man down the flank, then cut inside, beat another along the byline then dragged the ball back perfectly. Unfortunately what would have then been a perfect team goal was spoilt somewhat by Paul Terry's slice right across the face of the penalty box with the ball heading more towards the corner flag.

Jean-Paul Kalala replaced Anthony Barry in a like-for-like swap in midfield and as Yeovil gradually began to redress the balance of what had been a fairly difficult second period, Arron Davies skipped his way through the Orient defence on his own, riding challenge after challenge. Appearing to be clearly taken out on the edge of the box by a rough piece of Orient defending, there was sheer outrage from Russell Slade in the Yeovil dugout when referee Pat Miller waved play-on. Certainly the biggest decision the match official had to make all afternoon and unfortunately he took the easy option. As Slade fumed, the noisy Yeovil following certainly gave Miller their opinion on the subject.

Whilst much of the match had been spent watching Glyn Garner's goalkeeping skills at the foot of his posts, Steve Mildenhall showed he could match him by getting down low to a long range attempt by Adam Chambers as the game slipped into the final quarter hour - Mildy collecting down at his left post, and probably the first fullblooded save he had been forced into.

Arron Davies had been one of Yeovil's most effective players going forward and therefore it was a touch surprising when he made way for Lee Morris in the closing stages, although perhaps part of Slade's motives was to switch formations during the closing stages. It did seem to allow Yeovil a little more forward play as the game closed, even if the first contribution from Morris was to land in the book for misjudging a sliding tackle. Matt Lockwood also was a late booking when he blatantly pulled back Martin Brittain as he slipped clear of his marker.

As the game closed Yeovil got themselves two clear chances to win the game. From that free kick, Brittain flighted the ball into the box and Martin Cranie got up high to head the ball goalbound, only to find Garner equal to it and palming the ball out for a corner. Then in injury time, Nathan Jones got in a long range shot that Garner did what he had been doing all the way through the game - getting down low and palming the ball clear. Wayne Gray - on as the final substitute - tried to get in for the rebound but a defender hacked the ball out of play before he could get there.

On the whole despite only coming away with a point, this was not too bad a performance. Having bossed the first half, the second period saw Orient becoming far more dangerous and they kept Yeovil on their toes for a large proportion of the remainder of the game. The Glovers did finish more strongly though, and if Orient didn't give their man of the match award to keeper Glyn Garner you'd wonder what he'd have to do in order to claim the accolade. If one was to be critical of Yeovil's performance then it would be that they created little in the way of chances inside the Orient penalty box, with most of their goalbound attempts being shots hit by Davies and Barry from distance, but at least this was a positive step from last week's disappointment, and of course another valuable point chalked up on their travels.

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