Southampton 5 - 3 Leyton Orient
Pontin's Holidays Combination Central Division

ORIENT'S reserves were edged out 5-3 in a thrilling Combination Central Division clash at Southampton on Tuesday night.

Aiden Palmer's two penalties, added to Efe Echanomi's strike, kept Orient in the contest throughout, but the Saints just had too much for the visitors.

Orient's young side - they ended with six first year scholars and an under-16 on the pitch - took the game to the Saints and assistant manager Dean Smith was pleased with their display.

"It was an excellent performance, and we thought we had made it 4-4 at the death, but the goal was disallowed and they went down the other end to wrap it up.

"We had a very young team and again they gave a good account of themselves against a good Southampton side."

Orient got off to the worst possible start. falling behind to Cedric Baseya's opening goal in the second minute.

However, a foul on Loick Pires gave Palmer the chance to level within two minutes, and the left back made no mistake from 12 yards.

The breathless start to the game continued with Souhampton's David McGoldrick scoring the first of his three goals to make it 2-1 - and only six minutes had been played.

With 20 minutes gone, Echanomi took advantage of a mix-up between Saints keeper Andrej Pernecky and Oliver Lancashire to power through to level again.

But McGoldrick restored Southampton's lead before the beak and Baseya's second after 64 minutes gave them some much-needed breathing space.

Palmer scored again from the spot to give Orient hope, but following that disallowed goal, McGoldrick completed his hat-trick to make the points safe for Southampton.

Orient: Jack Giddins; Brandon Martin, Patrick O'Donnell, Clayton Fortune (Adam Marsh 65), Aiden Palmer; Harry Baker, Solomon Shields, Daryl Sydes, Loick Pires; Efe Echanomi, Raphael Sylvester (Adam Bolle 55)