ORIENT suffered their first league defeat of the season when they went down to Hartlepool United on Saturday and The Daily Telegraph suggested that Martin Ling's men would "learn some home truths" over the result.

The Telegraph's David McVay wrote that Stuart Nelson was to blame to Ian Moore's first half opener, but he felt the O's keeper may have been hampered by an uneven bounce for the second.

That wasn't an opinion shared by Nigel Whitefield in The News of the World, who reported that Nelson would have been disappointed with both goals.

McVay said that Hartlepool had the look of a side who could be set to sustain a second successive promotion push, while Orient have, in his opinion, progressed impressively from their position as "relegation dodgers" last term.

The Hartlepool local press were glowing in their praise for Danny Wilson's side, and The Northern Echo reported that Pools finally managed to find the goals their away performances had merited, and that they could have doubled their tally of four.

The Hartlepool Mail said that their local side had halted the Orient Express, with reporter Michael Gannon hailing the victory over a previously-unbeaten O's side as stunning.

Pools boss Wilson was understandably delighted, but one man who felt a slight tinge of disappointment this weekend was Tranmere manager Ronnie Moore, whose side could only draw at Cheltenham and therefore missed the chance to go top.

Moore told The Liverpool Echo: "You are going to get afternoons like this during the season. All we can do is think about our own result and performance. Let's hope we can go top next weekend."

Martin Ling and Orient, of course, will be looking to bounce back from their first defeat of the season and prevent that from happening.