Leyton Orient 2 - 0 Shrewsbury Town
FA Youth Cup Round Three

GOALS by Brian Saah and Shane Oakley earned the Orient youngsters a well-merited victory and a place in the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup when they will meet Bristol City at Brisbane Road.

O's dictated the pattern of play throughout showing inventiveness and football of high quality combined with pace and creativity and they deservedly took the lead on 34 minutes with a delightfully worked move.

Full-back Jason Demetriou went on a positive diagonal run at the Shrews defence before picking out Efe Echanomi who rounded the keeper before squaring the ball into the path of Saah to net from six yards.

O's might have extended their lead before the break with strikers Echanomi and Oakley denied by the over-worked Shrewsbury defence whilst Tom Ziepe fired narrowly over from a Derek Duncan free-kick.

There was little to concern Clark Johnson at the other end although the O's keeper did well to collect a cross under strong pressure shortly after his side had taken the lead.

The pattern of the game remained unchanged after the interval with Orient again in control as they relied on their neat and quick passing game to pose continual problems for the opposition.

It was no more than Orient deserved when they doubled their advantage on 61 minutes with a delightful move instigated by Oakley who collected a clearance on the halfway line and exchanged passes with Echanomi to cut open the Shrews defence before slotting the ball expertly past the keeper.

With their two goal cushion, O's confidence increased as they played possession football with their excellent passing technique seldom allowing Shrewsbury any encouragement and on the rare occasions when they did mount an attack, they found Joe O'Cearuill in outstanding form at the heart of the O's defence.

Caretaker youth team manager Gary Karsa was naturally proud of his squad:  "We played some quality football after the first 15 or 20 minutes when we got to grips with the opposition, he said.

"Our purpose was to push forward and dictate the pattern of play and I'm delighted with our overall efforts.

"The longer the game went on, the more imposing we became and our players showed a lot of self-belief both individually and as a team. There is a tremendous team spirit throughout the squad and we are in the next round of the competition which is a tremendous achievement for the club and the lads deserve to go even further." 

Orient: Clark Johnson; Jason Demetriou, Joe O'Cearuill, Daniel Glozier, Aidan Palmer; Scott Wallis, Brian Saah, Tom Ziepe, Derek Duncan; Efe Echanomi. Shane Oakley.
Subs: Nuno Gourgel for Echanomi (75), Brian Glover for Ziepe (79), Raphael Sylvester for Oakley (88).
Not Used: Easton Davis, Alan Matthews.

Shrewsbury: Joe Hart; Dan Griffiths, Sam Crompton, Eddie Hope, Henry Goh; Dan Tolley, Shane Sutton, George Hughes, Jamie Haynes, Steven Leslie; Robert Egginton.
Subs: Marco Addagio for Tolley (56), Thomas Stokes for Leslie (63), Marcus Sharrat for Egginton (83).
Not Used: Ian Harvard, Matthew Henney.

Ref: Gary Ives.
Att: 207.