Leyton Orient 0 - 1 Swansea City
Coca-Cola League One

TEN-MAN Orient fell to their third successive defeat when Leon Kinght's 54th minute header proved enough to seal the points on a frustrating afternoon at Brisbane Road.

Glyn Garner had earlier saved a penalty from the visitors' diminutive .striker - an incident that led to Justin Miller being sent off - and although Knight himself saw red 25 minutes from time, Orient couldn't find a way past a strong Swans backline.

In truth it was a game of few chances that was settled by an avoidable goal.  Both Clayton Fortune and Garner would have been disappointed with their parts in Knight's strike and the O's will have to break out of their losing streak as soon as possible.

Swansea caused the first moment of danger when they kept hold of the ball well and stretched the play sufficiently to feed an unattended Kevin Amankwaah in the eighth minute.  The visitors' right back sized up his options and fired in a cross-cum-shot that evaded the touch of three Swans players before eventually sneaking wide of Glyn Garner's far post.

The visitors made the more forceful start, with striker Rory Fallon dominant in the air, but they found it difficult to create a chance in the opening stages and most of the game was being contested in midfield areas.

But then, with 33 minutes on the clock, Orient were hit on the break - a familiar weakness in recenty weeks - with Darren Pratley bursting clear.  Miller tried desperately to get back, but only succeeded in upending the Swans skipper and referee Andy Hall had little option but to send the O's defender off.

Leon Knight stepped up to take the penalty, but Glyn Garner dived down to his left hand side to turn the pint-sized striker's effort away.  Incredibly, it was Garner's sixth penalty save of the calendar year.

Six minutes later Knight, already guilty in the eyes of O's fans of diving to try to win another penalty, went down under Brian Saah's challenge in the box.  Hall, who had quickly become public enemy number one for the majority of the crowd, decided this time to book the Swans frontman for simulation.

Six minutes after the break Rory Fallon shot straight at Garner after the ball fell kindly for him on the edge of the box as Orient continued to hold the Swans at bay, but two minutes later disaster struck when a mix-up between Clayton Fortune and Garner allowed Knight to nip in and head into the empty net.

Orient might have had a penalty on 59 minutes when Craig Easton was pulled back by the already-booked Kevin Austin as he entered the penalty area from the right channel.  Hall, however, did little to patch up his relationship with the home crowd by deeming the foul to have been committed outside the box.

Orient didn't look like getting back in the game, but their hopes were given an unexpected lift when Knight saw red 25 minutes from time after collecting a second yellow for a late tackle on Donny Barnard.

Shaun MacDonald, however, could have decided the matter a minute later when he wriggled clear just outside the area before firing a rising drive just over the bar.

Despite the numbers being evened up, Orient still struggled to make headway against their resolute visitors, but a set-piece nine minutes from time gave them their chance.

Lockwood's corner was headed on by Connor, but Barnard couldn't make the required connection as the ball fell invitingly for him, and his scuffed shot was blocked on the line by Austin.

Jabo Ibehre came on as Orient abandoned any defensive thoughts, and Fallon should have taken advantage of their adventrous 4-1-4 formation when he raced through on goal a minute later.  He probably had too much time to think about his finish, though, eventually blazing way over the top.

Brian Saah blasted wide of the post as the clock ticked over 90, but the fact that was as close as Orient got to scoring just about summed it up.

0	LEYTON ORIENT	COCA COLA LEAGUE 1		SWANSEA CITY	1
1	Glyn GARNER	Brisbane Road 26/8/06		Willy GUERET YC	1
3	Matt LOCKWOOD (C)	Ref: Andy Hall (West Midlands)		Kevin AMANKWAAH YC	2
4	Michael SIMPSON	Att: 4,162 (679 away)		Kevin AUSTIN YC	3
5	Clayton FORTUNE	Goals (time):		Kristian O'LEARY	4
7	Shane TUDOR	Garner saved Knight pen (34)		Alan TATE	5
8	Craig EASTON	Knight (54)		Ezomo IRIEKPEN	6
9	Gary ALEXANDER YC			Darren PRATLEY (C)	8
10	Lee STEELE YC			Rory FALLON	11
11	Joe KEITH			Tom WILLIAMS	15
15	Justin MILLER RC			Shaun MacDONALD	20
21	Brian SAAH			Leon KNIGHT RC	24
	SUBSTITUTES	Replaced (time)		SUBSTITUTES
2	Donny BARNARD	7 (35)	15 (69)	Adebayo AKINFENWA	9
12	Glenn MORRIS (GK)			Steve WATT	12
18	Paul CONNOR	11 (67)	19 (90+4)	Darren WAY	19
19	Jabo IBEHRE	4 (82)		Andy OAKES (GK)	26
25	Wayne CORDEN		11 (90+4)	Tom BUTLER	28