34 mins. After having blazed a couple into the Leazes end and then struck the bottom of a post (although from our angle it looked like the keeper touched it on to the woodwork), Cort opened the scoring, making it two goals in home appearances (both in the same end.) A hopeful ball out of defence by Goma dropped over the O's backline, and Cort picked it up in a central area before taking it into the box and holding off defender McGhee long enough to stick home his low shot. 1-0

Halftime: NUFC 1 LOFC 0

77 mins. An almost instant return on the investment of two subs by Bobby, although the appearance of Cordone and Lee on the field did almost as much to gee up crowd and colleagues as did their contribution to the goal. Cordone had already made one good run down the left before being denied at the expense of a corner, but when he managed to cross from a similar position, momentary confusion on the edge of the O's area saw Speed lash home a well-executed volley. 2-0

Full time: NUFC 2 LOFC 0

Match facts:

Our highest home League Cup crowd since the 49,902 that saw us reach the 1976 final by beating Spurs 3-1, and a mere 32,000 more than the smoggies managed the previous evening. Of course the largest team in the North East pulled in 13,000 less to their Stadium of Plight by charging people a whole £5 for admission, compared to our £16.
Now 18 years since we last lost a Second Round game at home - Leeds 1-4 27th October 1982 (15 games including this one)
First time we've ever beaten Orient in this competition, lost (a) in 1962, and drew (h) in only other meeting.
Leyton Orient thus became the 33rd team to beaten by United in this competition.

We said:  Uncle Bobby, resplendent in a smart grey suit commented:

They said: Orient supremo Tommy Taylor recycled a couple of cliches to come up with:

"I think we played as well as we could, We had a couple of chances against a very good team and all the boys worked hard throughout. I thought we defended ever so well but we lost the ball around our box and that's what cost us the two goals.

"The most important thing is three points against Lincoln but if we get an early goal at Brisbane Road (against Newcastle) who knows what will happen? We'll have to pray loads and hope we get plenty of set-plays..." 

O's captain Dean Smith said: 

"It's not every day you mark Alan Shearer so that was enjoyable but from the team's point of view it was important that we gave a good account of ourselves and I think we did that. You've got to match yourselves against great players, and now I can look back and say I played against Shearer and he didn't score." 

O's Belgian player Wim Walschaerts added:

"When we were clapped off by the Newcastle fans at the end that was one of the best moments of my career. It's brilliant to play in a stadium like that in front of so many people. The Orient supporters were magnificent and we could hear them more than the Newcastle fans."

Comments from the Orient web message board:

"Stadium, police, stewards, safety officers, club and shop staff, occupants and staff of the Strawberry PH, all a credit to Geordie-land.
The Orient team a credit to us all. We stand proud. (fnarr, fnarr)"

"I think we should refuse to give them the West Side and instead give the visiting Geordies the block of flats behind the West Stand. They will be marginally closer to the action and there is a lift to the top!"

Waffle: 

Another home win then, and a clean sheet for Steve Harper, making his first appearance of the season. That aside however, not a great deal to stir the emotions or warm the cockles (which of course will be available outside pubs in East London next week, along with whelks, mussels and firearms.)

Nearly 38,000 were allegedly on-hand, and given that over 37,000 had pro-Newcastle tendencies, the atmosphere was virtually non-existent, save for the vocal section of travelling fans. New boy Lua Lua was in the stands getting his first taste of watching football on Tyneside, and must have felt he was back at Layer Road, with no singing and no PA. However, our stands are a bit bigger, and go right round the ground here, like....

Mention of the PA cannot be avoided, simply because there wasn't one. Unless of course you count sporadic outbursts of white noise emanating from the speakers, which I thought was from a Velvet Underground live bootleg tape.Others identified this as "Darth Vader making an obscene phone call, "the voice of the Mysterons" or "the ghost of Lord Westwood, rattling the corrugated iron at the back of the old Leazes with his hook."
Whatever it was, there were no team, goal or sub announcements, which led to several spectators in the upper tiers believing Ameobi had played and scored, and your correspondent mistaking the track-suited figure of Domi warming-up in the first half for that of "disco" Des Hamilton. It was the hip-thrusting.....

However, no such identification problems surrounded England's former number 9, who was easily distinguishable by the miserable look on his face, lack of proximity to his striking partner and seeming reluctance to make himself available for passes from colleagues. Uncle Bobby has to get out his diary, turn back to last year and remind himself what he did to get Shearer of out a similar rut. Maybe taking the captaincy away from him might be beneficial, both in an Ian Botham /England cricket team sort of way and also for the rest of the players. 

Having an onfield captain playing up front isn't ideal, and there just seems to be a little deficiency at present in old-fashioned sleeves rolled up shouting and gestures, as well as organisation at corners etc. It pains me to say it, but something reminiscent of Bobby's old boy, king of the clowns, Terry Butcher wouldn't go amiss. 

Of course we'd rather not have the blood, bigotry and the general stupidity that made his brief managerial "career" such a hoot to all fans, except those supporting Coventry and the mackems at the time....

Our perennial trait of playing as well or badly as the team we oppose seems to be coming to the fore again and even another two or three goals from the chances created against an industrious but limited Orient side wouldn't have made the performance much more palatable.

A rapid improvement will be required to claim our first ever Premiership victory against the Addicks on Saturday, and a look at the bookies' odds for the game shows uncertainty as to the outcome. If you take the not unjustified view that Charlton are a purified version of Orient, with additional skill and guile but similar organisational strengths, then it's by no means certain that we'll preserve our record of only two defeats in twenty four home games under Robson. 

Looking for positive performances, Lee added strength to the midfield when he arrived, Griffin looked as if he intended to impress the management enough to keep his place in the side, and Hughes was his usual competent self. On the negative side, apart from singling out Shearer, Solano is again in dreamland, while Dyer needs to be shown rather less of the carrot and more of the stick, and concentrate on performing for the TV cameras at football grounds, rather than camcorders in bedrooms....  

Biffa