Nugent praise for fringe players

Assistant manager Kevin Nugent paid tribute to Leyton Orient's fringe players after a 1-0 home win over Walsall in the FA Cup.

The League One leaders were without three regular starters but prevailed thanks to Dean Cox's first-half goal. Cox's solitary strike after 41 minutes settled a dour and scrappy affair at Brisbane Road. O's captain David Mooney crossed the ball into the penalty area and although Shaun Batt scuffed his attempt, the ball fell to Cox and the midfielder blasted the ball home from 12 yards for his eighth goal of the season. "Players have come in and performed fantastically well," said Nugent. "We were down to the bare-bones and it was a very, very tough game for us. (Walsall manager) Dean Smith has done a great job there and when you play against them you have to be very tactically aware. "We did that well but unfortunately, right at the end, David Mooney has been sent-off and that is disappointing." Tempers became frayed in the final moments with Mooney shown a straight red card after an incident involving Paul Downing, who should have equalised shortly afterwards but he shot high over the cross bar from close range in the last seconds of injury time. Nugent took charge of Orient after manager Russell Slade was laid low with a virus, although he was able to watch the game from the balcony of his flat overlooking the ground. "He was struggling from midweek onwards really and it's been part of a very difficult week," said Nugent. "We had a couple of players pull out of the squad overnight so our preparations on Thursday and Friday became a bit of a waste really. But our players are really well-drilled, know their jobs and when the payers step over that line they know what they are doing and what is expected. "To be honest, Dean Cox was really suffering badly with the virus and he wasn't in a good state at all but he agreed to give it a go and he's gone and got the vital goal for us. "All the boys worked really hard for us and I'm really proud of them."