Martin Ling Talks About The Match

Last updated : 17 February 2007 By Thetashkentterror
Martin Ling
O's manager Martin Ling spoke to Orient's Official Website about the 1-1 draw against United this afternoon, Ling talking about the character his side showed, especially at the defensive end of the pitch :


"The character of the team was the most important thing, if we had crumbled today after going behind you could have said we are in a lot more trouble than we are now with a point and a decent fightback. We rallied the troops at half time and the methods we used today worked because we went out there in the second half and imposed ourselves on the game.

"We have not come away with three points but it was important we stopped the rot and took something from the game. Carlisle asked us some questions and I think we found the answers in the second half. If we had lost today there would have been a real feeling of deflation but we have picked ourselves up and come away with a point.

"Getting the equaliser so soon after half time helped, and I think we edged the game over the 90 minutes and we should have won it. But we will take small mercies at the moment because after the last two results we needed to get something out of the game today. It's phenonemal to get ten goals from left back. I've said to him (Matt Lockwood) that now he's a striker we'll look for 15 from him! But seriously, it's a wonderful record and he continues to go from strength to strength.

"We did well defensively, especially as we had to cope with losing both Alton (Thelwell) and Johnny (Mackie). We knew Alton was coming off after about 40 minutes and John played through the pain barrier for 15 minutes until he couldn't carry on any longer. But (Justin) Miller and (Adam) Tann as a centre-half partnership did really well, and when Adam went down with a head injury I thought the only solution was to get Dean Smith changed! In the second half, though, with a makeshift back four, we gave a good solid performance."