Cambridge United suffer first Abbey Stadium defeat under Neil Harris to Leyton Orient on New Year’s Day

Neil Harris has been under no illusions as to the amount of work that is ahead of him at Cambridge United – and it was rammed home during today’s 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Leyton Orient.

The new head coach’s tenure so far has been upbeat. Positive performances have yielded a return of seven points from four outings and it has provided plenty of reason for optimism.

But this was the type of display that U’s fans have witnessed too often for their liking during large parts of this season and last. Granted there are mitigating factors – certainly having no recognised available centre-forward was always going to make life difficult. But while Harris’ men adapted well to that particular situation during a last-gasp defeat at Oxford United on Boxing Day, on New Year’s Day they created very little and at the other end were guilty of making mistakes at key times as the gap to Sky Bet League One’s relegation zone was cut to four points.

In a first half that saw both teams struggle for any significant attacking fluidity, it was the visitors that went closest to breaking the deadlock.

They hit the woodwork on two occasions, the first of which saw Daniel Agyei’s ninth-minute effort cannon to safety off the outside of Jack Stevens’ left-hand post.

Orient were also denied by the goal-frame in the 29th minute when Theo Archibald’s dipping left-footed effort beat Stevens, only to smash against the crossbar and bounce clear.

Five minutes later the two players thwarted by the woodwork combined as Archibald’s slide-rule pass on the halfway line sent Agyei one-on-one with Jubril Okedina. However, the United centre-back did well to force the Orient frontman on to his right foot and while he still got a shot away, the angle was against him and Stevens made the block.

The U’s, meanwhile, looked blunt without a recognised centre-forward in their ranks. Nobody could fault Saikou Janneh’s effort and endeavour, but the winger found it tough going up against the visitors’ centre-back pairing of Omar Beckles and Daniel Happe.

United’s best opening of the half fell to Jack Lankester in the 18th minute but he hit a rising ball well over the top, while captain Michael Morrison was unable to make a decisive connection in the 24th minute after Paul Digby had flicked George Thomas’ corner on to the back post.

Harris undoubtedly will have demanded more from his players during the break, but instead he watched on as his team conceded twice before the hour mark.

Cambridge were the makers of their own downfall for both goals, with Okedina heavily involved on each occasion. It was his poor 54th-minute clearance that found Jordan Brown just 10 yards from goal and the Orient midfielder put his side in front with a deflected shot.

And within three minutes the away team had doubled their lead. Okedina lost possession midway inside his own half to Agyei and while the U’s defender did well to get himself back goal-side inside the box, a driven shot beat him and then also flew underneath Stevens at the near post.

Christmas Day may have been a week ago, but United continued to be in a present-giving mood and they almost gifted Orient a third goal in the 64th minute when Danny Andrew’s blind back pass was intercepted and eventually worked to an unmarked substitute Joe Pigott, but he scuffed his shot from the edge of the box wide. The former AFC Wimbledon frontman went much closer 60 seconds later with a powerful shot that just cleared the crossbar.

Young striker Brandon Njoku, who has been in fine goalscoring form on loan with non-league St Ives Town this season, entered the action as a late substitute to make his senior debut for the U’s, but Orient saw the game out with minimal fuss to complete a league double over their hosts.

Cambridge United: Stevens, L Bennett, Okedina (R Bennett 66’), Morrison, Andrew, Digby, Thomas (Kaikai 47’), Cousins, Brophy (May 66’), Lankester, Janneh (Njoku 81’)

Leyton Orient: Brynn, James, Happe, Beckles, Brown, El Mizouni, Sanders (Pratley 75’), Galbraith (Cooper 83’), Archibald, Forde, Agyei (Pigott 63’)