By Thomas Whitford-Bartle

Issues? What issues? As the saying goes, a week is a long time in football. Seven days ago, we’d just lost to Cambridge at home, after that deserved defeat at Plymouth. But here, away at a lacklustre Leyton Orient, City delivered a fantastic performance to follow up the win against Mansfield. 

Clearly the story of this match was defined by two men who pumped their fists to the away crowd after the full time whistle. Two men who, allegedly, were potentially leaving City a week ago. Two men who played with a point to prove: Stephen Humphrys and George Lapslie.

The tone of the match was really set by Humphrys. Leyton Orient, as Richie Wellens’ teams do, tried to pass out through City, which played into our hands with Humphrys chasing the keeper down and his clearance deflecting off him and out for a goal kick. Then, relatively shortly after, Humphrys again chased the keeper down and forced a rushed clearance out. Early markers laid down.

Orient occasionally managed to pass their way through but our forward and midfield players closed them down and it geed up our 500+ strong crowd (great effort for a Tuesday night in London). Humphrys was also involved in our three best chances of the first half, combining well with Will Swan to send him through twice. On the first occasion Swan’s touch was heavy allowing the chasing defender to tackle him but the ball fell to Lapslie whose shot was blocked. However, the second through ball resulted in our equaliser, when Swan ran through and finished coolly.

Humphrys also made a chance for Corey O’Keeffe, prior to the goal, with the wing-back side footing straight at the keeper following a lovely cushioned volley from the City number 11. Then, in the 58th minute, Humphrys put City in front with a brilliant diving header, basically from the penalty spot. Henry Cartwright had spread the ball out wide to Kayden Jackson, who put in a fantastic ball, low and full of pace.

Shortly after this, Humphrys would be replaced by Nick Powell, understandably so given it was his first appearance of the season. Before I discuss Lapslie’s contributions, I do want to assess Humphrys performance further and what it could mean. Firstly, he was a popular figure with the crowd with “Steven Humphrys down the wing” getting a rendition just before kick off and throughout. Secondly, as stated on the recent Width of a Post Podcast, Humphrys could cast a shadow on the team if we see a continued lack of goals from our forwards.

His performance here will certainly cast that shadow; however, I see it as a positive. Jake Beesley now has someone who should push him further, which I think was lacking before; Powell can’t start regularly never mind play week in week out, Swan and Jackson have had mixed starts and Alexander seems to prefer them out wide.

We have Humphrys until January at least, so we need him to compete with Beesley. An assist, a goal and a performance full of effort, as well as technique, was a great way for Humphrys to throw down the gauntlet and I’m sure Alexander will have loved that performance.

But, this was the Humphrys of August 2025 and the challenge for the forward will be to maintain these levels regularly. He was accused by some Barnsley fans, at the end of 24/25, of playing better to put himself in the shop window. If he does the same thing for us with these levels until January or May, I won’t complain.

Now, onto Lapslie. He was everywhere throughout the game and this performance characterised the best parts of his game; tenacity, smart touches and intelligent movement. You can never fault Lapslie’s effort, but his quality can be found lacking at times. But here, he demonstrated both in abundance. He linked very well down the right with Jackson, Reece Welch and Humphrys. He also delivered a trademark fantastic crunching tackle during the first half, as he did against Burnley.

In this performance, Lapslie showed his commitment to City and why he’s lasted longer with us than some others. He’s stayed to fight for his place when perhaps it would have been easier to down tools and move on. It is a shame to see a player with his endeavour and qualities not play more regularly, and you feel he’ll be a squad player at best for us, unless he can benefit from injuries elsewhere in the squad and become hard to displace.

Both Lapslie and Humphrys played with a point to prove to Alexander, but they’ll need to prove to themselves that they can maintain these performance levels across most of the season, if they’re to be more than peripheral figures.

Now, onto the other highlights of the match. Powell came off the bench and continued his role of Cult-Hero/Super Sub. A shot from the edge of the box brought a smart save and then he finished smartly on the turn to make the game all but safe. A certain Weatherman, on a certain other podcast, remarked that if we’d got Beesley in January we’d have gone up in 2025/26, I wonder what impact this version of Powell would have had on last season? We saw how positive his influence was from April onwards and it’s looking very smart to have kept him this summer.

Macaulay Gillesphey needed a solid performance today after a tough night against Cambridge, and initially it appeared he wouldn’t get one. A swiped failed clearance meant he missed the ball and the ball hit his standing leg, before rolling into his net, under no pressure – a moment he didn’t need.

But he kept going, grew into the game, and got up and down well to help stretch Orient’s defence. He also showed his class with a lovely outside of the foot through ball to O’Keefe, which led to a corner. Also, a neat chested assist for Powell’s goal showed fantastic awareness and composure. The night got better for Gillesphey after that own goal, and he limited Orient’s attackers on his side. On a side note, I watched the game in the away end with my cousin and his mate, who’s a Charlton season ticket holder, he remembered Gillesphey fondly for that play off final goal, coincidentally against Orient, and remarked that he played well but League One is his level.

Cartwright seems to be quietly going about his business and fared well in the midfield. He works hard, gets stuck in and shows a good range of passing. He got caught on the ball for a good Orient chance, which Jon McCracken did well to come out and save. But he never let his head drop and kept running. Inevitably, at some point, we’ll assess him based on Jenson Metcalfe’s development into our first XI, but for now, we should just praise Cartwright for a good showing in midfield. 

Of course, we also saw the debuts of Kieran Morgan and Hayden Matthews. Both acquitted themselves well for the most part. Morgan regularly looked for the ball and kept it moving, although he lost it on occasions when trying to do too much to impress. But, I feel he showed enough to show why he’s played 59 championship games.

Matthews had a more challenging evening but battled well. He’s a self-described front footed defender and he showed it by pushing up high and challenging for the ball. However, this is where Orient’s goal came from; Matthews found himself out wide, tackled well but the ball broke to another player and the Australian rashly lunged in, missing the player and ball. He’s a young defender and showed lots of good athletic attributes but also a slight rash edge. I’m sure working with Alexander and Lucketti will help him. It’ll take time to see if Matthews can be a suitable replacement but he’s got that aggressive quality to his game, which Wright possessed. 

O’Keeffe also made his debut, showing his versatility by playing on the left. He also has a fantastic work ethic, continuously running up and down the flank all night and playing in the cross which led to our crucial third goal. When Adam Phillips left Barnsley most of their fans were gutted, which wasn’t the case with O’Keeffe. However, if he can build on this solid performance he’ll be a very useful addition for our squad. 

Finally, on Orient, it was a relatively poor showing from them, both from their crowd and their players. At times, the atmosphere was that of two sets of fans who clearly hadn’t wanted to play each other. We weren’t pleased with an away trip to Orient, but equally, you imagine Orient weren’t thrilled with drawing us at home.

On the pitch, Orient at times seemed bullied by City. We pressed, harried and challenged them all over the pitch, with one challenge from Cartwright drawing an aggressive shove from an Orient player. The hosts created little of note. Aside from the own goal and a second-half effort that struck the bar, McCracken was largely untroubled.

Job done, a great response from City following two difficult results and now attention turns to Notts County on Saturday and then the 4th round draw on the 16th September. Until then we can all dream: Leeds at home, Liverpool away, Arsenal at home? Or maybe we should hope for a more winnable game to have the best chance of a quarter final appearance? 

Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2026/27, BCAFC, League Cup, Leyton Orient