Leyton Orient 2- Shrewsbury 3.

By Martyn Herman.

Leyton Orients players were left totally distraught on Monday as their play-off hopes came spectacularly off the rails against Shrewsbury.

Their second-half performance only required the appearance of Dracula and a few of his mates to complete a horror show that saw them throw away a two-goal lead against ten men.

Assistant boss Paul Clark summed up the feelings in the dressing room. They were totally devastated, he said. Having beaten Barnet on Saturday the players were on a high coming into the game.

We were comfortable at 2-0 and knocking the ball around well. Then we gave away a silly goal and panic set in. It was a catalogue of errors.

There was no sign of the drama to come as Orient started brightly in front of an expectant 5,000 crowd.

Alex Inglethorpe saw a header bounce over the bar in the second minute and Carl Griffiths volleyed just wide from distance soon afterwards.

But mid-table Shrewsbury signalled their intention too, Austin Berkley shooting too close to Billy Turley and Lee Steele also squandering a chance when put clear.

The Os took a deserved lead in the 31st minute when Griffiths squared for Craig Maskell who, having seen his first shot blocked, kept his composure to steer the ball beyond Paul Edwards.

Minutes later Shrewsbury were down to ten men when Berkley, already booked along with Justin Channing for a bout of shoving, lashed out at Alex Inglethorpe.

And when, eight minutes after the break, Carl Griffiths bagged his 21st goal of the season after the Shrews defence were caught square, the points looked safely in the bag.

Indeed, had Griffiths not squandered an identical chance just a couple of minutes later, the Os could have romped away with it.

That was a real turning point, added Clark. A third goal would have killed the game.

Instead the afternoon descended into black comedy. In the 56th minute Steve Kerrigan challenged Turley for a 50-50 ball and when it spun out to Steele he waltzed around three defenders and walked the ball into an empty net.

From that moment on Orients defence took on the appearance of quivering jelly every time Shrewsbury had the ball. They survived one bout of penalty area pinball before the visitors grabbed an inevitable equaliser.

A long ball saw a mix-up between Dominic Naylor and Mark Warren and the razor-sharp Steele gratefully accepted the gift.

Even at that stage a point would not have been a disaster. Indeed Warren somehow missed an open goal and Griffiths shot across the face of goal with Jason Harris just failing to apply the finishing touch at the far post as a win was still on the cards.

But the writing was on the wall when Steele got one on one with Warren nine minutes from time and left the defender for dead before shooting past Turley.

The stunned crowd began a mass exodus long before the Orient players wearing haunted expressions disappeared down the tunnel.

As Clark was quick to point out, Orient can still reach the play-offs but a few bruised egos will have to be repaired before this Saturdays make-or-break clash with Hull.

Orient ratings: Turley 6, Channing 6 (sub Raynor 71), Naylor 5, SMITH 7, Hicks 6, Warren 5, Ling 6, Harris 6, Griffiths 7, Maskell 7 (Baker 66), Inglethorpe 6. Att: 4956.

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