Players’ effort pleases boss

PENALTY! Forward Rhys Murphy was held back by Mathieu Baudry and a penalty was awarded - but the chance went begging.

LEE Johnson made the case for the defence of his players after a fruitless trip to struggling Leyton Orient.

Athletic again conceded an early goal then went two-down from a penalty in a poor first-half show.

Jonathan Forte’s own, weak penalty was saved by ex-Athletic goalkeeper Alex Cisak after the interval, with Liam Kelly smashing the rebound wastefully against the crossbar.

Deep into added time, substitute Jay Simpson added a third for Orient, further denting Oldham’s play-off hopes.

But Johnson declared himself pleased with the effort of his men, following a second half that revealed plenty of pressure on the home side.

“I couldn’t be too harsh on any individual,” said Johnson, whose afternoon was made worse by injuries to George Elokobi and Joseph Mills, “Carl Winchester was Premier League-class. Liam Kelly, bar the penalty, was good, as was James Wilson. There were some good performances and it was just disappointing the game didn’t fall for us.

“It is a massively disappointing result. I didn’t think it was a 3-0, I really didn’t. In the second half we were excellent. I don’t think it was as bad as the scoreline suggests..

“We won’t give up. We will keep the hammer down. We have had two bad results and now we are at home to Preston and we’ll give it our best shot.”