A come-from-behind victory for Leyton Orient over Oxford United was thoroughly deserved according to first-team coach Matt Harrold.

Tyler Goodrham gave Oxford a first-half lead only for Ollie O’Neill and George Moncur to give the O's a 2-1 success after the break.

Harrold, who was on post-match duty after manager Richie Wellens was sent to the stands for the third time this season, on this occasion for timewasting when making a substitution, thought they played really well.

Hackney Gazette: Matt Harrold (right) was delighted with Orient's performance. Picture: PAMatt Harrold (right) was delighted with Orient's performance. Picture: PA (Image: Kieran Cleeves/PA)

He said: "I felt they had a goal against the run of play really, we switched off and allowed a runner and they played around us with a little bit of quality.

“But apart from that, I thought we were good in the first half.

“We said a few things at half-time and we went from strength to strength and deserved the win.

“We worked on something in the week which came off a few times in the first half and at half-time we urged them to shoot through bodies.

“And that’s what Ollie O’Neill did. It was a great strike into the far corner.

"It was just that little moment that we were maybe lacking in the first half.

“With Moncs, we’d said to him at half-time to take more chances – and that’s what happens when he does. He does it all the time in training and it was an unbelievable finish.

“We all know he can do it, we just want to see it more often."

The visitors had threatened in the first half with Jamie Cumming saving angled shots from Ruel Sotiriou and Moncur.

Goodrham's goal was his 10th of the season, turning in Ruben Rodrigues’ right-wing cross at the end of a fine move, but Orient finished the half with Moncur denied again by Cumming and Tom James hving a free-kick tipped over the crossbar.

The equaliser came six minutes into the second half, O'Neill hitting a shot on the turn from Idris El Mizouni’s pass.

Moncur completed the turnaround with a right-footed shot past Cumming after 77 minutes.

The result leaves Orient in ninth, six points behind Oxford in the sixth and final play-off place.

United boss Des Buckingham admitted his team’s performance was not good enough.

He said: “We didn’t deserve to win the game but we’re still sixth in the table and we’ve got 11 more opportunities to make sure we stay where we want to stay.

“We’ve only got the one point from these last two home games which is not what we wanted.

“The first goal they scored we had four different chances to clear the ball and we didn’t. And the second one, we allowed a guy who’s right-footed onto his right foot to shoot.

“But we’ll deal with this together. It’s not about looking for excuses or blame. That’s not where you take a group of people where you want to go.

“Yes, it’s about accountability and making sure across the group we’re all clear about what we’re doing.

“We need to get a run of results together to get people here behind us more often.”