MARTIN LING was forced to reflect on another defeat as the O's were put to the sword by promoted Swansea City on Saturday.

The Welshmen smashed four goals in a one-sided opening period, and although Orient stemmed the tide after the break and pulled one back, Ling admitted his side were well beaten.

The visiting manager did, however, question the validity of Swansea's third and fourth goals.

"Swansea thoroughly deserved the win - we were poor in the first half and they took advantage of that.

"That said - and I'm not a man to make excuses - two of the goals shouldn't have stood.

"There was a definite offside for the third goal, and the fourth hasn't come close to crossing the line.

"The lineman has made two errors there, but we've made errors too and it wouldn't have changed things because the better side won.

"They cut us open regularly and Glenn Morris has probably been as good we've had out there again, and he's had four go past him today."

Orient lined up with the same 4-3-3 formation that worked well against Doncaster last week, and although Ling reverted to 4-4-2 midway through the opening period, he did not think the system was necessarily to blame for the defeat.

He continued: "I don't think the system was to blame. Last week it worked very well, this week it didn't.

"We went to 4-4-2 and we conceded two goals with that formation as well - I think it was more the performances within the system that was to blame."

Orient did hit back after the break with Wayne Gray's ninth goal of the season and Ling did take some comfort from their second 45 minutes.

He added: "We had to save some face in the second half and we did regain a little pride.

"Sitting there at half time 4-0 down, it could have been an awful lot worse than 4-1 at the end.

"At least they did show a little pride out there, but it wasn't a good enough performance from us and I take responsibility for that."

Ling now wants his side to save more face by registering their first victory in six attempts when they host Bristol Rovers in the final game of the season next week.

"We've not had that winning feeling for a long time, so it is important to put that right against Bristol Rovers next week," he said.

"We need to put a performance together in that game to say thank you to the fans for the support they've given us this season.

"Today 200 people came all the way to Swansea and we didn't give them a performance.  We haven't given one on the road for a while, so we'd like to give them something to cheer next week."