LONDON, CMC – Grenada international Omar Beckles said Leyton Orient deserved their 1-0 win against Charlton in the English League 1 championship on Boxing Day.
The 32-year-old central defender, the Professional Footballers’ Association president, scored only his second goal of the season, earning Orient their second win in their last ten league matches and bragging rights in their London derby.
“We are buzzing because we got the three points,” he told Orient TV. “I have been out for two months, and I am correctly enjoying just being back and playing again.
“We had to be disciplined over the Christmas period. We couldn’t have too much pudding and are happy to get three points. I will definitely be going home and tucking into some food.”
The match seemed to be heading for a stalemate when Beckles turned a cross from substitute Dan Agyei into the net from close range with 10 minutes to go and gave the hosts all three points.
Orient is now 13th in the 24-team table on 28 points, and the win avenged a defeat by the same score on the season’s opening day on the road at The Valley.
It was also a morale-boosting win for the side after Bolton Wanderers beat them 3-2 three days earlier, but Beckles said he was happy with the effort shown.
“There are ways to win games, and there are ways to lose games, and I think we lost that game (against Bolton) in the right manner,” he said. “You will take that momentum, that energy, and that enthusiasm… They almost felt it was like a win.
“We knew that we bounced back, and we knew that we could have drawn. It was a good mentality, and if that game (against Bolton) had turned out to be a 4-0, we would have come here down, so we took the momentum from that game (against Bolton), and the guys stepped up on a significant occasion against a big club.
“It was a good experience for them, and they looked solid, and we can give any team in this league a run, so we are delighted with total points here.
After Charlton started the match well, Orient boss Richie Wellens hailed Beckles and the defensive unit for their work.
“We knew we would have to defend at times,” he said. “They are an excellent team playing forward, and we tried to negate them having the majority of possession deeper. In defending our box, we were perfect from Omar Beckles and Dan Happe.
“I’m very consistent in my way of thinking. I’ve always said this is the progress we need to make. The last 170 minutes of football following Bolton, and again against Charlton, we’ve been excellent and will keep improving. Both are massive clubs, and we need to keep learning.”
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