Dave Challinor laments ‘bad day’ as Hartlepool thumped by Orient

Manager Dave Challinor admitted he had a worse day than the referee after Hartlepool were thumped 5-0 by Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road.

Aaron Drinan netted a hat-trick as Orient ended a sequence of four successive draws in a game which was shrouded in controversy.

Referee Alan Young took the players off the field for the interval four minutes early and after the customary 15-minute interval break, he brought the teams back to play the missing time before blowing for half-time and ordering an immediate turnaround to start the second half.

Orient were 2-0 up at that stage with goals from Drinan and Harry Smith, the second moments after home captain Darren Pratley – who had already been cautioned – handled the ball but escaped with a lecture from Young, with Challinor booked for his heated complaints.

Tom James added a third early in the second half before Drinan completed his hat-trick with a late brace.

Challinor was critical of his side and said: “That was probably one of the worst performances from a side I’ve managed for a long time.

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“We knew we would have to be brave in the way we played, they pressed us and we had a couple of situations where we needed to be better early in the game.

“There were incidents in the game that we reacted badly to and I’ll include myself in that.

“Everyone in the ground sees the game change by what happened because Darren Pratley’s been booked, then handles the ball and the referee chooses not to give a second yellow card.

“Within a few seconds, they’ve scored a second goal.

“After the game I’ve spoken to the referee and he said he’s had a bad day but not as bad as my day let me tell you.

“But that incident with Pratley was a huge turning point in the game. The whole day from that point onward went downhill.

“After the referee took us off early, their experienced manager takes off the player who should have been sent off.

“But we were nowhere near good enough.”

Orient assistant boss Joe Gallen admitted it was an afternoon to savour.

He said: “After the first goal went in you could see the confidence had come back into the players and offensively it was a very good performance.

“Aaron Drinan scored four goals early in the season and of course we are only going into November but he has been out the side of late so of course scoring a hat-trick and getting two assists was an excellent contribution.

“His first goal was a wonderful finish. He’s been patient, he’s an excellent trainer and we are very pleased with him.

“We were looking for composure and good decisions but once the boys go out there they need to deliver and they did. It was a good crowd and it really helped the team.

“The ref made a mistake, he was man enough to own up to it and he tried to find a solution.

“Hartlepool wanted the additional four minutes replayed which was absolutely fine by us and we just carried on.”

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