PENALTY king Matt Lockwood scored from the spot for the seventh time this season as Orient defeated Peterborough on Saturday and the O's left-back, who last week was named in the PFA's League Two team of the year, was delighted to have played his part in wresting back control of their promotion destiny.

Speaking on the final whistle, the 29-year-old defender said: "We knew the situation at the start of the game was that we had to win - it was as simple as that.

"We set ourselves a target of 80 points and the gaffer said that it would be enough to take us up. If we win this Saturday we'll have 81 points so the good thing is that going in to the last game of the season it's all in our own hands.

"That wasn't the case before today because we were relying on other results, but they've gone for us and while it would be nice for Northampton to go and beat Grimsby, we got the result we needed today."

As ever, Lockwood displayed commendable calm from the spot to fire the O's into an early lead and he explained that he is only too happy to shoulder the burden of being the club's penalty taker.

"We've had loads of penalties recently and I'm pleased that I've put all but one of them away," he continued.

"Lee Harrison told me after the game that he'd said to their goalkeeper to go that way if we got a penalty and although he got a hand to it, he just tipped it more in the corner - I hit it well and it was high enough for the keeper not to be able to save it.

"It was a bit nervewracking because the pressure is always on the player to score and the keeper can only make himself a hero but I'm always confident I can score from 12 yards as you only have to get it in the corners and hope the keeper doesn't dive too early."

Lockwood also revealed that one man more relieved than most that Orient managed to claim victory was Paul Connor, who saw red after just 20 minutes for elbowing Peterborough's Paul Carden.

He added: "For Conns' red card the lad was all over him and I don't think he meant to elbow him, he just tried to shrug him off but the lad was obviously a bit closer than he thought and he's caught him in the face.

"We've got no complaints about that and Conns afterwards was distraught - he's just disappointed with himself and what he's done. It was lucky that we battled hard and didn't lose it because otherwise he'd have been inconsolable tonight."

Lee Steele made his first start in two months after a spell on the substitutes' bench and Lockwood was impressed with his return to starting action.

"Steely hasn't started many games that recently and I think he was just pleased to be out there," he continued. "He worked his socks off for the boys and when they took one of their centre halves off we knew we that if we could get it in to him we would create chances.

"We did that - the one in the first half when Joey Keith's gone through and the guy's taken him out was the biggest penalty I've ever seen.

"I suppose that because we've already been given a penalty the referee wasn't going to give us another one but he admitted afterwards that he'd made a mistake.

"We did a professional job today and Cords' goal in the second half was fantastic - once that went in we pretty much knew that we were going to win, it was just a shame that we let that goal in because we were desperate to get the record for the most home clean sheets on the trot.

"It would have been nice to get the record, but to be honest if we get promoted nobody's going to care about it."

And with next week's winner-takes-all battle with Oxford set to affect matters at both ends of the table, Lockwood will be looking for a similar performance at the Kassam Stadium.

He concluded: "Oxford are in the relegation zone now and fighting for their lives. It's not going to be easy and it'll be a battle but it won't matter how we play as long as we get a result.

"As long as we go there and put in a professional performance we'll be OK - the pressure will be on them more than us because dropping out of the league is a big thing and I wouldn't want to be in their shoes."