Southampton 1 - 1 Leyton Orient
npower League 1

ORIENT won their first point of the season by holding on for a real backs-to-the-wall draw at Southampton on Saturday.

The Saints forced near-constant pressure on the O's goal, and most of the 21,000 crowd at St Mary's would have expected the floodgates to open once Rickie Lambert fired them into a 12th minute lead.

But Orient responded three minutes later as Terrell Forbes headed just his second career goal and that proved enough to get Russell Slade's men off the mark for the season.

Southampton hit the woodwork twice, while Jamie Jones needed to make a number of fine saves, but the hosts couldn't make a second breakthrough and it ended all square.

After the pre-match tributes for Saints owner Markus Liebherr, who passed away earlier this month, the home side started at a real pace and had a sight of the O's goal within the first 60 seconds when Lambert burst clear of Mike Cestor's challenge. Forbes rescued the situation by sprinting across to make the covering tackle.

Southampton piled on the pressure in the opening stages and Lee Barnard was a whisker away from breaking the deadlock on eight minutes, but his measured right-footed effort thudded off the far post and away to safety.

The hosts didn't have to wait long for a goal though, as Lambert's 12th minute free kick took a wicked deflection off the wall and left Jones helpless as it flew into the opposite side of the goal.

However, Orient hit back immediately when Charlie Daniels - playing in a more advanced midfield role - swung over a right wing corner and Forbes rose highest to power a header home.

It was a real bonus for the visitors, who had hardly been able to break out of their own half inside the opening quarter of an hour, but they nearly found themselves behind again within minutes when Adam Lallana's curling effort required a fine save from Jamie Jones.

The Saints continued to probe with real purpose and Lambert went close with a couple of headers around the half hour mark - the first drifted wide and the second brought an excellent reaction stop from Jones.

Orient managed to get to the break level, but they were under pressure at the start of the second period too, and Morgan Schneiderlin drew a furious reaction from Stephen Dawson when he went down inside the area under the O's skipper's challenge. Referee Phil Gibbs waved away the penalty claims from the home side.

Barnard then nearly profited from a poor Forbes clearance when his stinging drive was touched over the crossbar by Jones.

The ball just wouldn't go in for the former O's loanee and he couldn't have gone any closer than in the 61st minute when Radhi Jaidi's cross picked him out only for the header to bounce down off the underside of the crossbar.

Orient were beginning to feel a bit more comfortable as the game entered the closing stages, although Dan Harding wasted a glorious chance to win it for the hosts eight minutes from time when he could only knock over at the far post after Jason Puncheon's centre was flicked across the area.

That proved to be the last chance for the Saints as Orient held firm to collect an excellent point.

Southampton: Davis; Butterfield, Fonte, Jaidi, Harding; Puncheon, Hammond (Chamberlain 81), Schneiderlin, Lallana; Lambert, Barnard (Connolly 81)
Subs: Dickson, Wotton, Mills, Seaborne, Bialkowski (GK)

Goal: Lambert 12

Booked: Harding, Jaidi

Leyton Orient: Jones; Omozusi, Forbes, Chorley, Cestor; Cox (Téhoué 86), Chambers, Spring, Dawson, Daniels (Jarvis 68); Revell
Subs: Brown, McGleish, Butcher (GK), Porter, Smith

Goal: Forbes 15

Booked: Chambers, Cox, Cestor

Referee: Phil Gibbs

Attendance: 21,468 (755 away)

Apologies for the lack of in-running updates from today's match. Technical difficulties across the network of Football League websites prevented us from being able to provide this service today.