Chesterfield inadvertently helped Leyton Orient set 2024/25 foundations | OneFootball

An early FA Cup defeat helped Orient prepare well for the following 18 months.

The 2023/24 League One season started off rocky for the O's.

Coming off of winning the League Two title the previous year, the minimum expectation from the majority of the fanbase in E10 was to remain in the division.

After starting the campaign with only one win in their first eight in all competitions, that was looking far from certain but the O's had settled into League One life and found themselves sitting 16th in the table prior to their FA Cup second-round tie with National League leaders Chesterfield in December 2023.

Chesterfield turned out to be a banana skin tie for Leyton Orient

Richie Wellens' side set out for Derbyshire knowing their fate was a tie with Championship side Watford should Orient manage to get past their National League opponents.

Chesterfield, who had won all but one of their home games in all competitions at that point in the season, had to clear a significant amount of snow in order to pass the pitch inspection prior to the match - not ideal conditions for a game of football.

Dan Happe was also forced to withdraw from the starting lineup prior to kick-off after pulling up with an injury in the warm-ups.

The game started slowly, without much action until a wayward cross from Ollie Banks deflected off of Orient loanee Idris El Mizouni. The Spireites went on to secure their place in the third round with a 1-0 victory, leaving Wellens understandably frustrated.

"I thought first half we were a disgrace," he said after the game.

"I spoke to the players at half-time and said try and put this into perspective - it's a freezing cold weekend and our supporters have saved up, worked overtime, in the current crisis when it's coming up to Christmas and the energy bills are what they are, and that first-half performance is not acceptable - nowhere near.

"More than anything I'm gutted for our supporters, for the owners, we wanted a cup run this year."

These statements, no matter how harsh, turned out to be the start of change at E10.

FA Cup defeat pushed Leyton Orient to improve for rest of season

After Wellens' harsh words following their cup exit, Orient were left with the sole aim of pushing up the League One table.

At first, the O's were defeated soundly by Derby County but found their season turning around following two injury-time goals to turn defeat into victory away at Cheltenham Town.

Following that, Orient recorded some famous victories over the likes of Bolton Wanderers, Charlton Athletic, and eventual champions Portsmouth. The O's spent a brief period of time competing for the play-off places but eventually concluded the season in a respectable 11th - a far cry from any potential relegation scrap as all eyes shifted to the following campaign.

Whatever changed following the Chesterfield game clearly instilled something in the squad that still remains, as the O's have shown week in and week out that they can go toe-to-toe with the best teams in the division this year.

Having started the season in similar vain to last year, Wellens' side have turned things around much earlier than last year and now seem to be pushing harder than ever to finish inside the play-off places in League One.

The foundations that were set following Wellens' scathing comments following last year's cup exit will benefit the club far more in years to come than a standard cup win would have.