Northampton Town 0 - 1 Leyton Orient
Coca-Cola League One

PAUL CONNOR'S first goal of the season took Orient out of the relegation zone for the first time in four months as they beat fellow strugglers Northampton Town 1-0 on Tuesday night.

Connor came off the bench to bag the winner with 11 minutes to play and although flowing football was not in too much evidence at Sixfields, the O's showed plenty of heart to register their third straight League success.

Northampton looked to put the O's under early pressure and a slip from Brian Saah in the eighth minute allowed Scott McGleish to tee up Ryan Gilligan for a shot from the edge of the box.  The home striker kept his shot low, but it fizzed just the wrong side of Glyn Garner's post and into the side netting.

The O's had started slowly but they weathered the hosts' early pressure and quickly settled, with Wayne Corden having the next shot on goal, cutting in from the left before curling a low effort at home stopper Mark Bunn in the 15th minute.

Eight minutes later, a foul on Gary Alexander gave Luke Guttridge a shooting opportunity from a free-kick. The on-loan midfielder bent his effort low around the wall but marginally wide of the far post.

On 28 Justin Miller sent a rasping long-range drive over the top, but genuine goalscoring opportunities in the opening half-hour were few and far between.

However, with 10 minutes of the first half remaining, John Mackie didn't get enough on Andy Holt's cross from the left. The ball dropped to Eoin Jess on the edge of the box and O's hearts were in mouths when the midfielder drove goalwards. They were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief, though, when his shot flew wide of Garner's left hand post.

There had been little to inspire the freezing crowd in a nondescript first half, but on the stroke of half-time, Corden's deep cross picked out Alexander, who had peeled off to the far post.  The O's frontman poked towards goal, where Bunn was well positioned to save with his feet.

Northampton broke straight away and Jess forced a save from Garner with a bouncing volley, but the whistle blew with the scoresheet still blank - and Orient would have been satisfied with that.

And they were almost even happier three minutes after the break when Wayne Corden's well-placed free-kick looked bound for the net until Bunn intervened.

Northampton replied well and Garner needed to be alert again on 53, diving to his left to repel Gilligan's half-volley after the ball dropped down to him 15 yards from goal.

The game had become noticably more stretched and with Northampton looking to take advantage by cranking up the pressure, McGleish very nearly gave them the on 61 when Andy Holt's long throw caused chaos in the box. Garner threw himself in front of McGleish's close range shot to block, and he was quickly on his feet to stop Jess' follow-up effort.

The Cobblers could not find a way through during this period of dominance, however, and Orient introduced Shane Tudor from the bench as they made a bid for all three points,

Matt Lockwood's low free-kick from out wide was fumbled by Bunn after 72 minutes, and seven minutes later the deadlock was broken when Craig Easton's pass released Guttridge.

Bunn sprinted to the edge of the box to block Guttridge's effort, but the ball spun out to Connor - who had only been on the pitch four minutes - to stroke into the empty net.

Northampton stuggled to find any coherency in their attacking play following Orient's goal, but when the fourth official signalled six minutes of stoppage time to be played, they were given renewed hope.

But a brilliant last-ditch tackle by Adam Chambers on Andy Kirk aside, the visitors played through stoppage time without too much alarm to record an all-important win.

0	NORTHAMPTON TOWN	COCA-COLA LEAGUE 1		LEYTON ORIENT	1
13	Mark BUNN	Sixfields Stadium - 19/12/06		Glyn GARNER YC	1
3	Andy HOLT	Ref: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire)		Matt LOCKWOOD	3
4	Luke CHAMBERS	Att: 4,728 (650 away)		John MACKIE (C)	6
6	Chris DOIG	Goals (time):		Craig EASTON YC	8
9	Scott McGLEISH (C)	Connor (79)		Gary ALEXANDER	9
11	Eoin JESS			Justin MILLER	15
12	David HUNT YC			Luke GUTTRIDGE	16
14	Joe BURNELL			Brian SAAH	21
16	Sean DYCHE			Wayne CORDEN	25
20	Pedj BOJIC			Adam CHAMBERS	26
28	Ryan GILLIGAN YC			James WALKER	28
	SUBSTITUTES	Replaced (time)		SUBSTITUTES
8	Andy KIRK	28 (83)		Donny BARNARD	2
17	Bradley JOHNSON	20 (56)	25 (59)	Shane TUDOR	7
21	Chris DUNN (GK)			Joe KEITH	11
22	James QUINN			Glenn MORRIS (GK)	12
27	Nick WRIGHT	12 (74)	28 (75)	Paul CONNOR	18