Leyton Orient 1 - 3 Brighton & Hove Albion
totesport.com Combination Central Division
ORIENT'S Combination campaign began in defeat as Brighton & Hove Albion came from behind to record a 3-1 victory at Brisbane Road on Tuesday.
Loick Pires' first half penalty gave Orient the lead, but Albion hit back with strikers Gary Hart and Craig Davies getting the goals to condemn Orient to defeat.
Hart grabbed two of them as Albion's experience up front proved too much for a youthful O's defence.
Brighton applied the early pressure and Tommy Elphick had a fourth minute header saved by O's stopper Jack Giddens following Kevin McLeod's free kick delivery.
Another McLeod dead ball two minutes later picked out Craig Davies, whose close range header was deflected behind for a corner.
Orient weathered the storm and came within a whisker of taking a 16th minute lead when Adrian Patulea's stunning 25-yard drive rebounded off the crossbar and to safety.
Loick Pires then had a skidding shot saved by Josh Pelling as the home side began to make an impression themselves.
They were rewarded with the opening goal with 32 minutes on the clock when Patulea's clever touch on halfway sent Moses Odubajo clear down the left.
He played the ball into Pires, whose charge was only halted by Elphick's rash challenge inside the box. Pires picked himself up to convert from the spot.
Set pieces looked like Brighton's most likely route to a goal and a left wing corner five minutes from the interval almost led to one when Elphick's header was cleared off the line by Matt Hall.
The hosts were the more threatening in open play, though, and Pires flashed a left-footed shot across goal on 45 following Patulea's lay off.
However, in first half stoppage time, Brighton equalised when a clearance from the back caught the home defence out and Hart raced through to slot past Giddens.
The away side started the second period strongly and moved into a 55th minute lead when Craig Davies got the better of Andrew Cave-Brown in the left hand channel to slide a shot into the far corner.
Hart had a shot saved just past the hour, but he did not have to wait long to net his second, firing into the top corner on 64 after holding off Mike Cestor Botuli outside the box.
Harry Baker had a shot saved by Pelling from a rare O's attack near the end, but normal service was soon resumed with Hart coming inches away from his hat-trick with a shot across Giddens that went just the wrong side of the post.
Giddens, who had a good game between the posts, saved well from Seagulls sub George Barker two minutes from time as Brighton saw out a well-deserved victory.
Orient: Jack Giddens; Andrew Cave-Brown, Elliott Babbs, Mike Cestor Botuli, Matt Hall; Harry Baker, Kristian O'Leary (Ryan Nelson 60), Darryl Sydes (Michael Richardson 81), Moses Odubajo; Adrian Patulea (Jake Argent 60), Loick Pires
Subs: Dan Bygrave (GK), Christopher Benjamin
