BARRY HEARN has told manager Martin Ling it's time to add to his squad if Orient are to re-establish their promotion credentials.

Speaking after Tuesday's LDV Vans Trophy exit to Bristol Rovers, the club chairman confirmed that finances were available for Ling to increase the number of players available to him.

But he does also believe the existing players need to act swiftly to return to the level of performance they were producing early in the season.

"Martin's got a few serious questions to ask of his squad, Hearn said. "It's trite to say we can concentrate on the league, but that's all we've got left so we'd better get something sorted out quickly.

"I've said to Martin all along if it means bringing in new players then that's what we'll do - we're not going to let the season drift away.

"Maybe we need a kick up the backside - it was a poor performance in the second half - the crowd saw what I saw which was disjointed and slap happy, where we conceded poor goals through poor defending and we had no control of the midfield.

"Your eyes don't lie, it was not a performance we want repeated and not the sort that is expected from us.

"We're missing Carlisle wide on the right and we missed McMahon a little bit - but it's easy to say who you're missing, there's a spirit that was there at the start of the season which comes from confidence and results and we're on a bad run so that's not there at the moment.

"We've been beaten three times at home recently, and that's not acceptable - I don't want to point blame at individuals because collectively they were poor and it's a bitter pill to swallow but the quicker we come to terms with it the better and if we have to bring in replacements we must do it.

"We're three points off the play-offs with 17 matches to go so we're going to have to do something positive quickly and if it means bringing in new faces then so be it because there's too much at stake to watch a very good start to the season drift away to rubbish.

"This division is built up of a load of a teams that don't look like they'll challenge in the league above - everyone's beating everyone and anyone who puts a run together is going to climb the table.

"Because there are no runs there's no great movement in the league which shows where we are even after only winning once in 12.

"We're not playing well enough to be top seven but not many others are either so it's time to look in the mirror and we know we've got the players so it's a question of re-installing that belief from the start of the season when they were playing well - but whatever we need to do we need to do it quickly."