Ling views it as a point gained

Last updated : 17 March 2007 By Dave Moore
Martin Ling viewed Leyton Orient's point as one gained rather than two lost after he watched his side throw away a 2-0 lead. After Gary Alexander was sent off Ling was happy that his side clung on to share the points.

He said: "Looking at how the game went, it's a point gained and not two lost. There is a touch of frustration because we were 2-0 up, but if we're honest and fair about it, they hit the woodwork three times and had one saved miraculously on the line by Glyn Garner, so a draw was fair. We rode our luck at 1-0. They had chance upon chance and at that stage I'd have taken a point with both hands. But when we got the second with Gary Hooper finishing well from a great ball by Jason Demetriou, you start to think it's your day."

"But two bits of bad defending has cost us at the end of the game. The dismissal of Gary Alexander early in the second half changed the whole course of the game. I think the second yellow card was the correct decision, but the first one was a poor decision. Gary was throwing the ball back to where the free-kick should have been taken and their player chose to kick it at him from five yards. The referee explained to Dean Smith that Gary was stopping a quick free-kick, but the only place that quick free-kick was going was into the stand. It's a good little run we've got going. 12 points from six games is promotion form and there is resilience in this team. It's another point towards our safety target and we've gone up a place. We've got eight games left with four against top half teams and four against bottom half ones so our destiny is in our own hands."