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

ORIENT moved off the foot of the League One table after Gary Alexander's first half header earned them all three points against Huddersfield Town.

The O's controlled the contest from start to finish, and although they found goalscoring opportunities dificult to fashion, they were thoroughly deserving of the victory.

Alexander's sixth strike of the season proved to be enough, and a miserable trip to the capital for Huddersfield was compounded in the second half when Martin McIntosh saw red for two bookings.

It all meant that the O's received a much-needed boost ahead of the Christmas period and they can now set their sights on hauling themselves out of the relegation zone again.

Orient started brightly with James Walker providing a lively presence up front, and it was the on loan Charlton man who had the afternoon's first serious attempt, breaking clear in the left channel and cutting inside before seeing his shot in the 13th minute blocked.

Ten minutes later Wayne Corden was next to try his luck, cracking a shot over the top from the edge of the box after Matt Lockwood used possession well on the left hand side.

Huddersfield had barely threatened, but centre-back David Mirfin had a good chance to open the scoring on 27 when he volleyed over the crossbar after Andy Booth had risen well to nod Andy Holdsworth's free-kick across.

The visting defender was made to regret that wasted opportunity 60 seconds later when the O's worked the ball through to Wayne Corden on the left hand side.  The O's winger headed straight for the by-line and hung up an inviting cross for Alexander to nod home.

Another Corden cross four minutes before the break almost resulted in a second goal, but Craig Easton failed to make the contact he desired with his header and the ball dropped wide of the right-hand post.

Two minutes later Huddersfield - in a rare foray into O's territory - should have levelled when former O Gary Taylor-Fletcher drove at the O's defence and fired in a low cross that looked certain to result in a goal. Mark Hudson couldn't oblige, though, somehow managing to strike the crossbar from no more than four yards.

Orient were grateful for their let off and Walker almost rubbed salt into Terriers wounds straight after when he collected the ball with his back to goal, turned sharply and shot just wide with Huddersfield stopper Matt Glennon beaten.

The visitors brought on Luke Beckett at the break and ditched their 4-5-1 formation in favour of 4-4-2 and they certainly began the second period with more attacking intent, spending most of the first five minutes in Orient's half.

But they were dealt a hammer blow on 58 when McIntosh - already booked for a poor tackle on Walker in the first half - saw red after ploughing through the back of Alexander.

Huddersfield were starting to lose their discipline and after Mirfin was booked for another foul, Orient created their first chance of the second half when Luke Guttridge broke in to the visitors' box and drilled wide of the target after bring set up by Alexander.

At the other end Alton Thelwell needed to clear off the line after 69 minutes when Andy Booth's downward header from a corner looked destined for the net.

With 16 minutes to go, Walker exchanged passes with Guttridge on the edge of the box to fashion a shooting opportunity. He opted to curl an effort across Glennon but there wasn't enough whip on the ball and the chance passed.

Orient still hadn't wrapped the game up as the end neared, but Jabo Ibehre could have made sure of the points with his first touch after coming on, but Glennon reacted well to keep the Terriers alive.

Four minutes of added time were played, but Orient kept the ball in the corners superbly to eat away the seconds and register just their fourth league win of the season.

	LEYTON ORIENT	COCA-COLA LEAGUE 1		HUDDERSFIELD TOWN
1	Glyn GARNER	Brisbane Road 9/12/06		Matt GLENNON	27
3	Matt LOCKWOOD (C)	Ref: Darren Deadman (Cambs)		Andy HOLDSWORTH	2
8	Craig EASTON YC	Att: 4,300 (585 away)		Danny ADAMS YC	3
9	Gary ALEXANDER	Goals (time):		Mark HUDSON YC	4
15	Justin MILLER	Alexander (28)		David MIRFIN YC	5
16	Luke GUTTRIDGE YC			Chris BRANDON	7
21	Brian SAAH			Jon WORTHINGTON (C) YC	8
25	Wayne CORDEN			Gary TAYLOR-FLETCHER	10
26	Adam CHAMBERS			Martin McINTOSH RC	16
27	Alton THELWELL			Michael COLLINS	19
28	James WALKER			Andy BOOTH	23
	SUBSTITUTES	Replaced (time)		SUBSTITUTES
11	Joe KEITH			Paul RACHUBKA (GK)	1
12	Glenn MORRIS (GK)		10 (87)	Danny SCHOFIELD	11
18	Paul CONNOR		7 (61)	John McCOMBE YC	17
19	Jabo IBEHRE	28 (88)	8 (HT)	Luke BECKETT	18
24	Jason DEMETRIOU			Matt YOUNG	22