Aaron Drinan's first-half goal proved to be enough to put Leyton Orient in the hat for the second round of the FA Cup after a narrow 1-0 win over Ebbsfleet United.
Kenny Jackett made one change from the starting eleven that beat Hartlepool 5-0 last Saturday, as Hector Kyprianou was brought back into the side for Alex Mitchell.
The visitors almost opened the scoring within the first minute of the match as Lee Martin’s strike inside the penalty area went through a crowd of Orient players but Lawrence Vigouroux managed to get down and catch the strike before it found the bottom corner.
The Fleet caused trouble for the Orient defence for the opening 15 minutes of the game but failed to be clinical in the final third. The O’s suffered the same issue going forward in what was a lively opening to the cup tie.
Orient almost went ahead through Aaron Drinan as he had a curling effort which unfortunately went over the bar.
The breakthrough came for Orient and Drinan after 24 minutes. A brilliant through ball was played by Shad Ogie down the left to Drinan who brilliantly made his way into the Ebbsfleet penalty area to calmly slot the ball under Josh Gould and into the bottom right corner of the goal to give The O’s the lead.
Ebbsfleet didn’t let their heads dropped as they searched for an equaliser before the break. Greg Cundle put in a number of crosses into dangerous areas but the visitors didn’t have players in the box to get on the end of them.
Orient looked to double their lead before the break, as Theo Archibald tried his luck from 25-yards, only for his shot to go over the bar.
Ebbsfleet came out fighting and almost found an equaliser through their top goal scorer, Dominic Poleon. His effort from outside the box almost found the bottom corner, only for it to fall on the wrong side of the post.
Minutes later the Ebbsfleet players surrounded the referee, Will Finnie, appealing for a penalty only for Finnie to bring it back for a free-kick for the visitors which they weren’t happy with.
The visiting support thought the Fleet did find the equaliser on the hour mark when Rakish Bingham jumped the highest to head the ball towards goal, only for his effort to go wide of the post.
Orient had a golden opportunity to double their lead with 25 minutes left of play. Aaron Drinan was through on goal and only had the keeper to beat but opted to try play it across goal which was intercepted by Sefa Kahraman.
In the same move Tom James managed to find the head of Harry Smith who had a free header at goal. His effort was inches away from being powerfully placed into the top corner but it skimmed over the bar.
The O’s almost made it two after Archibald played in Dan Kemp inside the penalty area. Kemp then chipped the ball over the on-rushing keeper with looked to be dipping towards goal but landed on the roof of the net.
Tom James then had a venomous effort from outside the penalty area which flew towards the top right corner of the Ebbsfleet goal.
Gould was unmoved and could only watch the ball which unfortunately went over the bar.
The final action of the game was a free-kick taken by Michael West. Every player was in The O’s box as Ebbsfleet looked to salvage a draw.
West’s free-kick caused no problems and was safely caught by Vigouroux, with the referee blowing the whistle after.
That win means Leyton Orient will be in the hat for the Second Round draw of the FA Cup for the first time in five years.
Next up for Orient is Charlton in the Papa John’s Trophy on Tuesday at the Breyer Group stadium.
Leyton Orient: Vigouroux, James, Clay, Smith, Kemp, Archibald, Drinan, Pratley, Beckles, Ogie, Kyprianou
Unused substitutes: Wood, Happe, Smyth, Omotoye, Sotiriou, Young, Papadopoulos, Sweeney
Ebbsfleet United: Gould, J.Martin, Kahraman, Bingham (Monlouis 85’), L.Martin (West 89’), Poleon (Romain 72’), Cundle, Tanner (Krasniqi 85’), Solly, Paxman, Chapman (Egan 72’)
Unused substitutes: Haigh, Jombati, N’Guessan
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