MARTIN LING was delighted with his side's response to a poor first half at Mansfield on Saturday, with the O's again displaying their defensive qualities to claim a hard fought 1-0 victory.

Orient were put under pressure for the majority of the opening period, but survived to the break with their goal intact and pushed on sufficiently to register their tenth away win of the season.

And Ling also recognised the importance of their three-point haul ahead of Monday's promotion showdown with Grimsby.

"We only seem to be performing in 45 minute chunks at the moment," he said. "We were poor in the first half as we didn't get anything going and we didn't get close enough to them.

"They had too much time to get balls into the strikers' feet and we didn't get any tackles in.

"But we kept in their half a lot better in the second half, as you could see in our tackling, ball retention and regains - it was certainly a big improvement in the second 45.

"It's all about points at this stage. We've said all along that 80 is the target and I still feel that'll be the mark we need. If it comes through two scrappy wins and a scrappy draw I'll be a happy man.

"It's going to be nervy but I feel we've got enough character and experience to see the job through."

Orient's backline, which has functioned so well that they haven't conceded a goal at Brisbane Road since mid January, took their form on the road to Mansfield and Ling was again thrilled with his defenders' contribution

He continued: "The defensive record has come on in leaps and bounds recently, but the thing that was most pleasing today was that while the defence for most of the season has been Mackie, Zakuani, Lockwood and Miller, there were two different faces in there today with Barnard and Tann and the same results have come.

"We've got a good defensive mentality in there and the midfield four is prepared to put the effort in to protect the back four too.

The O's boss was also full of praise for another large travelling O's contingent.

"The fans have been superb away from home all season - they've had plenty of good games to watch but I thought they were a massive help.

"I've said before that the management team need to be spot on, the players need to be spot on and the fans need to be spot on between now and the end of the season - they were certainly spot on today.

"If we can get a win over Grimsby it'll take us four points clear with three to go, so it's totally in our own hands now."

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