Oxford ended their three-game winless run in style as they breezed to a 2-0 victory at Lincoln in Sky Bet League One.

An early goal from Ciaran Brown, plus a goalkeeping howler from home custodian Lukas Jensen, saw the second-placed side dominate as they inflicted the first defeat of interim Imps boss Tom Shaw’s reign.

The visitors suffered a blow after just eight minutes when Sam Long had to be replaced by Stan Mills after injuring himself in fouling Jack Vale. However, they took the lead four minutes later, from their first attack, when Brown headed Cameron Brannagan’s near-post corner into the roof of the net.

Danny Mandroiu raced clear on an Imps counter-attack two minutes later, but with the Oxford defenders closing him down he opted to shoot from distance and saw his effort easily saved by James Beadle.

Lincoln goalkeeper Lukas Jensen palmed Mills’ effort wide midway through the first half, before Ruben Rodrigues fired into the side-netting for the visitors.

Jensen then expertly saved from Tyler Goodrham as Oxford began to run rings around the home side, with Mills also denied by Jensen just before the break.

A calamitous error by Jensen gifted Oxford their second goal after 64 minutes, when the Danish keeper attempted to catch Mills’ cross-cum-shot from the right but only succeeded in fumbling the ball into his own net.

City immediately responded, with Lasse Sorensen’s curler bringing a flying save out of Beadle, before Jensen tipped over from substitute Marcus McGuane late on.

Wycombe and Cambridge had to settle for a point apiece as they played out a 0-0 draw at rainy Adams Park.

A Sky Bet League One match that largely lacked quality came to life in the closing stages but neither side could find a winning goal despite several chances being created at both ends.

Ryan Bennett came close to giving Cambridge the lead in the 37th minute when his towering header from Danny Andrew’s free-kick hit the underside of the bar and base of the post.

Wycombe had a big chance to break the deadlock when Killian Phillips played in Garath McCleary, whose shot was turned behind by Cambridge goalkeeper Jack Stevens.

The visitors nearly snatched all three points when the ball broke for substitute Jack Lankester, whose shot was brilliantly tipped over by Wycombe goalkeeper Max Stryjek.

However, Cambridge’s Liam Bennett will have been relieved when his extraordinary slice 35 yards from his own goal in the 89th minute soared over Stevens, only to clear the goal.

Max Bird celebrated his first goals of the season as Derby thrashed Northampton 4-0 at Pride Park.

The midfielder scored twice before half-time to put Derby on course for their biggest win of the season.

Derby had twice gone close before Bird put them ahead in the 14th minute, steering in Conor Washington’s low cross from the left.

Northampton were struggling to contain Derby but they should have done better when Washington ran between two defenders before beating Lee Burge with a low shot in the 22nd minute.

The game was over 10 minutes later when Conor Hourihane’s pass picked out Bird who slid a low shot past Burge from 10 yards.

Northampton made three changes for the second half but conceded again in the 49th minute when Tom Barkhuizen crossed for Nathaniel Mendez-Laing to score from 12 yards.

Barkhuizen and James Collins should have added further goals on a miserable night for Northampton, who did not manage a meaningful effort on goal in the 90 minutes.

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho felt he saw the worst and the best from his side as they recovered from a terrible start to fight back and secure a hard-earned 3-2 win at struggling Reading.

Protests from the home fans – with around 2,000 supporters also staging a pre-match protest march against Chinese owner Dai Yongge – saw the game paused twice after tennis balls were thrown onto the pitch before the Royals took a shock 2-0 lead through quick goals from Lewis Wing and Charlie Savage.

Pompey, though, fought their way back on to level terms before the break through on-loan Chelsea midfielder Tino Anjorin and Colby Bishop.

Terry Devlin then slotted in the winner early in the second start to extend Pompey’s unbeaten start.

“I was really disappointed by the way that we played for 25 to 30 minutes,” Mousinho said.

“But even at 2-0 down, I was still quite positive of getting back into the game. We then proved that with 15 minutes-worth of very good football.

“The (tennis ball) protests impacted the flow of the game, but Reading had to deal with that as well. They just got on with it.

“For us, it was really Jekyll and Hyde in that first half. To start off, with what we have put together collectively, we were an unrecognisable team.

“But once we had taken that kick in the face (of Reading’s goals), we were excellent.”

After the final whistle, Reading substitute Amadou Mbengue received a red card following a skirmish between both sets of players.

Reading slipped to the bottom of the table as their winless run stretched to seven matches.

“We were just not able to keep the lead,” said Reading manager Ruben Selles said.

“And at 2-1, we had an amazing opportunity to make it 3-1, but that has been happening so often to us lately.

“We don’t put the ball in the net and the next one is coming against us.

“The performance was there, we were competitive against one of the best teams in the league, but we need to be more robust and more ruthless.”

Darren Ferguson was relieved to survive an “unprofessional” second-half wobble as his side held off a fightback from 10-man Blackpool to win 4-2 at Bloomfield Road.

Posh appeared to be cruising as goals from Kwame Poku, Harrison Burrows and Ricky-Jade Jones put them 3-0 up inside an hour against a home side who had Oliver Casey dismissed shortly after the restart.

But the hosts scored twice in the space of four minutes through Kenny Dougall’s header and Sonny Carey, who was first to the rebound when Nicholas Bilokapic parried James Husband’s shot to set up a grandstand finish.

It needed a stoppage-time strike from Ephron Mason-Clark, who had earlier missed a penalty, to make the points safe and Ferguson was left to reflect on a mixed performance.

“We were excellent for 60 minutes and we stuck to the game plan,” he said.

“We were very good and we were dominant. But even at 2-0 we got sloppy, and then a great third goal and you’re thinking ‘game over, just manage it. Can we put a real statement out and put them to the sword?’.

“Then 15 minutes later, we’re hanging on. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. We were all over the place and it was just unprofessional.

“We managed to see it through and a good counter-attack and a great finish by Ephron. Any time you come here and you win, it’s a great result because these will be in the top six, I’m absolutely certain of that.

“We’ve now gone to Bolton away, Barnsley away, these away, Portsmouth away; a lot of teams that will probably end up in the top six, I think, and we’ve come out pretty unscathed.”

Posh climbed to fourth following their victory while Blackpool sit seventh, three points outside the Sky Bet League One play-off places.

Tangerines boss Neil Critchley had nothing but praise for the way his side battled back into the contest.

“I’m proud of a team that’s given absolutely everything in really difficult circumstances,” he said.

“If you’re going to lose a game of football, then lose like that.

“I’m disappointed to lose, obviously. I think we could have started the game better, I thought we were a little bit tentative, which was not the message before the game, but I thought we grew into it.

“Our response to going 3-0 down was magnificent, unbelievable. The players gave absolutely everything. At 3-2, we had them, we felt we could get something out of the game at that moment in time.

“You could see tiredness towards the end and we made a mistake and they scored. So much happened during the game. Even though we’ve lost, I’m still very positive about what I saw in the second half, especially.”

Barnsley head coach Neill Collins applauded the resilience of his side as they came from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw against travelling Fleetwood.

Devante Cole and Corey O’Keefe provided equalisers for the Tykes after a first-half double from Junior Quitirna.

Collins said: “Today I think it was a winning performance, you look across the season it’s one of our most dominant performances.

“We created loads of chances, created lots of opportunities to create more chances but we obviously shot ourselves slightly in the foot by giving away a really cheap goal and then losing a very good goal from their perspective.

“I think what the fans should be happy with is that we came from behind twice. That’s the first equaliser here (at Oakwell) since the Championship season so I think that shows that we’re building on that resilience and ability to come back.”

On his side equalising twice, Collins said: “It’s a match-winning performance. We’ve had ones that have been much more even and we’ve been very ruthless with our chances and quality.

“Today we probably should’ve got three points and didn’t and there’ve maybe been other games where it could easily have been a draw and we did get that goal.”

On his side receiving two home penalties in as many games after not being awarded one since March 2021, Collins said: “A team that plays on the front foot the way we want to should create opportunities and I’ve not seen it back but it looked like a penalty at the time.”

Fleetwood manager Lee Johnson said: “I’m disappointed in not taking the three points and disappointed, if I’m honest, in the team’s performance.

“We’ve got really good footballers and we forgot to play today and that was what really frustrated me.

“For 35 minutes, 40 minutes; I thought we played and were outstanding and then all of a sudden, we dropped off, we kept giving the ball away. Then it became a defensive, attack versus defence drill in my view.

“We need to believe in ourselves a little bit more in possession because we’ve got some really good footballers there.”

On his side surrendering their lead twice, Johnson said: “We didn’t have enough quality, controlled possession. My game, my philosophy and our game is about control and how many scenarios and situations can we control in and out of possession.

“We didn’t control enough today because we gave the ball away too much.”

On the performance of Quitirna, Johnson said: “Fantastic, we’ve really enjoyed working with him so far, he’s showed a great attitude.

“We’ll have to see how his hamstring is, he felt a tightness there. That’ll be a big loss to us if he’s not fit; I’m delighted with him.”

Wycombe boss Matt Bloomfield believes the 2-2 draw at Oxford confirmed what a good team he has after a week of three tough matches for the club.

He felt the Chairboys probably deserved more than just two points from their fixtures against Peterborough, Bolton and Oxford.

A dramatic clash between local rivals at the Kassam Stadium featured three second-half penalties.

Luke Leahy converted two for Wycombe after Marcus McGuane unluckily slipped and handled the ball, then when James Beadle brought down Brandon Hanlon.

Oxford, who had taken a 25th-minute lead through Ruben Rodrigues, snatched a point deep into stoppage time as sub Cameron Branagan converted from the spot when Leahy tripped Mark Harris.

Bloomfield was not prepared to criticise Leahy, a summer signing from Shrewsbury, for conceding the late spot kick.

Bloomfield said: “Luke is so disappointed in the dressing room but I’ve said to him to get his head up.

“To take that responsibility and have that calmness and surety – and especially with the second penalty to be able to repeat it again on what was a big occasion for our supporters and ourselves – is tremendous.

“Luke has been an unbelievable signing for us – both as a player and his influence as a leader and as someone who can contribute at both ends of the pitch.

“I’m really pleased that we’ve got him at our football club.”

Bloomfield added: “We wanted to come to Oxford and press and impose ourselves and we did that.

“It changed the balance of the game when Oxford scored and they then had a 10-minute spell where we had to hang on a bit.

“I thought Oxford’s penalty at the end was a bit soft. But it’s not easy for the referee in that situation with so much emotion in the stadium.

“We wanted to be on the front foot and play in attacking areas. I’m so proud of my players.

“We’ve played three top teams this week and we’ve been the better team in the second half in each of them.

“We’ve come away to top sides that have started the season well and we’ve shown that we’re a good team.”

Oxford boss Liam Manning was shown the red card for angry comments when Wycombe were awarded their second spot kick.

Under Football League rules he was not allowed to talk to the media after the match.

U’s assistant head coach Chris Hogg said: “It was a topsy-turvy affair. We’ll take a point at the end of the game and we were really happy with some of the play from the boys.

“And credit to the boys for the energy and attitude in getting back into it.

“But I think in general it’s quite sad now that, at every level we’re having to talk about key decisions rather than the football that was played.

“Both sets of players probably feel aggrieved at the end.”

Hogg felt it was important to have key midfielder Brannagan back in the fold after he had missed two games with illness.

“It’s been great to have Cameron back in the building again – he’s only been back in for a couple of days – and they were important minutes for him today.

“One thing you know about Cam is his enthusiasm and personality is big for the group, and big for the club.

“He’s definitely lifted the place the last 48 hours. I never had any doubt when he stepped up for that penalty – I had full faith in him that he’d score.”

Cheltenham manager Darrell Clarke said it was a “nice touch” to hear the Port Vale fans chant his name after making a winning return to his former club.

A brace from captain Sean Long saw the Robins come from behind to win 2-1 and secure just their second victory of the season, moving them off the bottom of the League One table.

Clarke led the Valiants to promotion from League Two in the 2021-22 campaign before being sacked in April of this year and then appointed by Cheltenham in September.

“I had a great rapport with the Port Vale fans here,” he said. “I had a great couple of years here – they’re a passionate bunch.

“I thank them for all the love and support they gave me while I was manager here.

“And our Cheltenham fans who travelled down here. I thank them for their support, they were amazing all game.

“So yeah it was a nice touch and I’m really thankful for that.”

Vale went ahead in the 32nd minute when Tottenham loanee Alfie Devine found the net with an acrobatic effort after skipper Nathan Smith guided a header from a corner to the back post.

Their lead lasted only 10 minutes though, with Long blasting home after latching onto a loose ball in the penalty area.

Cheltenham’s winner came in the 66th minute as Long’s deflected effort looped over goalkeeper Connor Ripley and into the net.

“It wasn’t pretty, but it was a pleasing win,” Clarke added. “We fought, we grafted.

“I thought in the first half an hour we created chances and they scored a little bit against the run of the play, which we’re disappointed on.

“But then the reaction of the boys was very good, so I’m really pleased with that.”

Vale manager Andy Crosby thinks the performance of his team, now without a win in eight league matches, was their poorest of the season.

“Without the ball, we didn’t win enough duels, we didn’t win enough battles, we didn’t win enough first contacts, we didn’t win enough headers, we didn’t win enough second balls,” he said.

“And then, when you get the ball back, you have to continue to show the bravery to get on the ball and play the game that we’re trying to play.

“And perhaps we got caught in between a little bit, in terms of then going more direct and then into the front.

“The team who played the best won the game.”

Vale scored a first goal in six league games, but they’ve now dropped to 16th after a promising start to the season.

“It’s important that collectively we now all go away, me included and you look at yourself and ask are you currently producing your best?,” Crosby added.

“If not, why not? And what can you do to make sure that your performance is better?

“Because this is about all of us. We’re in this position. We all have to do something about it.”

Interim Bristol Rovers manager Andy Mangan raised the prospect that he could take charge of the Gas following Joey Barton’s sacking after a 2-1 over Northampton at the Memorial Stadium.

Mangan was placed in temporary charge of the first team in the wake of Barton’s exit on Thursday and such was his players’ response that he is already quizzed about the possibility of taking over on a permanent basis.

When asked about being in line to replace Barton, Mangan told reporters in his post-match news conference: “That’s a really difficult question to ask because Joey’s my friend.

“I’ve been asked to take over the team because of what’s happened this week and all I can do is do my best.

“If we keep winning, then who knows what will happen, but all I can do is every single day come and try to make my players better.

“But I have to say the staff have been fantastic and I’ve got nothing but thanks to everyone at the club.

“Joe and me have been together longer than everyone else here so it’s been tough.

“But it’s been wonderful seeing the way people have been coming together and long may that continue.

“I don’t know what happens next – all I can do is keep working diligently every day.”

Mangan saw striker Chris Martin give his side the perfect start, back-heeling Aaron Collins’ cut-back beyond Cobblers goalkeeper Lee Burge after 10 minutes.

Antony Evans doubled the lead on the half-hour, calmly beating Burge from the penalty spot after the former Sunderland goalkeeper felled Collins.

Emmanuel Monthe halved the lead in the 57th minute when he nodded in Mitchell Pinnock’s free-kick to set up a tense finale.

“I’m an optimist and I think we can beat everyone else, but we can be miles better,” Mangan added.

“Victory felt really good because what happened was a complete shock and to be thrust into it and come away with a 2-1 is something we should all be proud of.

“It’s been a tough week for everyone and the players have to take a lot of credit because they performed to their maximum.

“After the first 10 minutes we were magnificent and when the onslaught came the lads should take credit for standing firm.”

Northampton manager Jon Brady, whose side are now only outside the Sky Bet League One relegation zone on goal difference, expressed frustration with the outcome.

He said: “We started well and had two or three chances, and then gave away easy goals that left us having to fight our way back into the game.

“We got a goal back and pushed and pushed, and we were knocking on the door, but we’re giving ourselves a mountain to climb every single time.

“We dominated every facet of the game. We had 60 per cent possession, but the game’s not about possession, it’s about how you use that ball and having purpose.

“We didn’t put the ball in the back of the net and then it’s too easy for the opposition to score.

“I’m really disappointed but we played quite well, but didn’t come away with anything which is frustrating.”

Shaun Maloney hailed a “very professional performance” after Wigan secured a third 2-0 victory on the spin in Sky Bet League One against a Shrewsbury side who played for all but four minutes with 10 men.

Former Wigan defender Chey Dunkley was shown a straight red card for hauling down Thelo Aasgaard on the edge of the box.

And goals in either half from Stephen Humphrys and substitute Callum Lang secured a comfortable win for Latics, who also hit the woodwork twice.

“I thought it was a very professional performance,” said Maloney.

“Obviously it was very hard for Shrewsbury when you go down to 10 men that early.

“I thought we started the game very well, and then the game completely changes.

“I was just really happy with how professional we were, because the sending-off changed our outlook dramatically.

“Give Shrewsbury credit, actually, even with 10 men.

“It changes how we play, the spaces become bigger and we have to make them even bigger for them, which is probably the reason why we created so many chances.

“We had to change how we played in the second half, we had to become more aggressive.

“I was really pleased with the guys who came on in the second half, especially Callum McManaman who brought that mentality back just at a time when I thought the game was starting to drift.

“This kind of game can drift and become a lot harder, even when you have the man advantage.”

Shrewsbury boss Matt Taylor had no complaints over either the red card or the result.

“It was a very difficult afternoon for us,” he said. “But you’ve got to put it into context, when you have your captain sent off inside five minutes away from home – and quite rightly sent off.

“It’s a bad decision from Chey, he gets himself into a position where he can’t affect the run of the player going through.

“Going down to 10 men inside five minutes, you know there’s going to be some suffering, and there was.

“Having said that, for large parts of the game I thought we were excellent, considering we had 10 men.

“The players trusted each other, they moved the ball very well and we got into some excellent positions.

“You have to understand that when you play with 10 men, you will have to give space away because you can’t cover the whole pitch.

“Therefore they had plenty of opportunities from crosses and we haven’t stopped crosses well enough today in one-v-one situations.

“With the ball I was pleased, we varied the ball well and overall I’m disappointed because I felt this was a good opportunity to pick up some points.

“But we weren’t able to do that because we went down to 10 men so early.”

Paul Warne understands why Derby supporters voiced their frustrations towards the end of his side’s 3-1 defeat at Stevenage.

Boro fully deserved to record a first win in four league games which lifted them up to sixth in the Sky Bet League table.

Derby, though, are so far not living up to their pre-season expectations, with a second straight away defeat hard to take for many of the travelling fans who made their feelings towards Warne clear.

“The fans who came aren’t happy; they’re not happy with me, they’re not happy with the football, they’re not happy with everything, and I understand that,” Warne said.

“We are not in this league to come to Stevenage and lose or underperform, and it is a disappointing day for everyone involved at the football club.

“We just weren’t good enough to beat Stevenage, who I didn’t underestimate, but just in moments we weren’t strong enough.

“If I am truly honest, I have never had to manage a group where your own fans give it to you and I appreciate their frustrations.

“We’ve been honest with the lads there, saying what we think, and we will have to try and bounce back Tuesday (against Northampton) and put a performance on.

“What is obvious for anyone who knows anything about football is we have got a soft underbelly.”

Jordan Roberts gave Stevenage the lead with a thumping strike after a free-kick was teed up for him in the 32nd minute, but that was soon cancelled out by Nathaniel Mendez-Laing’s neat finish.

Alex MacDonald then put the Boro ahead from a free-kick right at the end of the first half, which beat Derby goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith for pace.

Boro then secured victory with six minutes left when Kane Hemmings opened his account from Luther James-Wildin’s ball across goal.

Stevenage boss Steve Evans said: “We fully respected and acknowledged how good the opposition were.

“They are, in my opinion, the biggest team in League One and arguably if they’re in the Championship you could be saying the same.

“We knew we had to match them in every area and I think we’ve done that and more today.

“We should have won by more, but we don’t fail to recognise that for Stevenage to beat Derby County in a league fixture is for the whole town really.

“It is tremendous for us and I don’t really have a thought towards Derby other than that they are a terrific side.

“It is more hand-to-mouth here and we have to find a way to compete at the level we have come up into.”

Carlisle boss Paul Simpson rued that there was “nobody else to blame but ourselves” following his side’s 1-0 defeat at the Abbey Stadium.

The Cumbrians produced a disappointing performance to lose to a Cambridge side that were on an eight-game winless run in League One.

Sub George Thomas headed the winning goal for the Us, before Simpson’s side ended the match with nine men following the late dismissals of Jack Armer and Alfie McCalmont.

“Let’s not look at blaming anybody else, it’s our own fault,” he continued. “If you don’t do the basics well then you don’t get anything out of the game, and unfortunately we didn’t.

“The biggest disappointment is, after a really good week of two really good performances against Portsmouth and on Tuesday night, today we’ve been way off it. We’ve turned over possession so many times, we haven’t won our duels enough.

“Jack Armer’s sending-off,  it’s a lazy challenge to get that second yellow card. Alfie, I feel for him a little bit. I have to say it probably is a red card because of the way his foot has come up, but he has no idea the lad is there. He didn’t do it intentionally.

“I accept that we can’t play brilliantly every game but you have to get a consistent level of doing the basics right, and that’s where we’ve let ourselves down. I do think we have let ourselves down today because I felt this was a missed opportunity.”

Mark Bonner felt Cambridge deserved the three points as they recorded their first victory since September 4.

It came after Tuesday’s draw with leaders Portsmouth, following defeat at previously winless Cheltenham last weekend.

“We needed a week like we’ve had this week, we needed a result like that today,” said Bonner.

“Their best chance was probably in the first minute. We got countered too easily and too often in the first half – they caught us out a few times.

“The wide play was miles better in the second half, and we threatened the back of them much better.

“In the second half I thought we had complete control of the game, were really dominant in their half and deserved the goal when it came.

“The end of the game was a bit weird, really, because it felt like it went on forever and we sort of forgot we were playing against nine players. There was more space than there needed to be.

“We looked edgy towards the end but in the end I thought it was really controlled and fairly dominant. Other than the first minute we weren’t under huge threat.

“We’ve built two good performances this week and four good points.”

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell was pleased to end a run of six straight defeats in League One but said there was plenty of room for improvement after a 1-1 draw with Lincoln.

Conceding soft goals has been a common theme in that run of poor form and Exeter did so again on 20 minutes when Will Aimson’s poor header fell for Paudie O’Connor and he crossed for Alistair Smith to score from 10 yards.

The Grecians were much improved after the break and deservedly drew level in the 81st minute when Ryan Trevitt headed in from Demetri Mitchell’s cross but despite plenty of possession, Exeter could not find a winning goal.

“I thought in the first half, we were a little bit edgy again, but we created a great chance for Ads (Admiral Muskwe) and a brilliant chance for James (Scott) just before half-time,” Caldwell said.

“I think we took that momentum at the end of the first half into the second half and in the second half, I have seen the team that I saw earlier in the season playing on the front foot, aggressive, creating opportunities for our wide players one-v-one and thankfully, from that, we created an opportunity for Ryan and he scored a brilliant goal.

“We could have scored more but I think, under the circumstances, it’s a really good point and something for us to build on.

“We can’t keep conceding bad goals. It is something we have tried to address and I don’t think we started the game with the right intensity.

“I felt they scored and just tried to slow the game down, sit in and play on the counter-attack, which most teams do here. But we have to stop conceding those early goals and giving ourselves a mountain (to climb) to get back into the game.”

It was a third game unbeaten for Lincoln’s interim head coach Tom Shaw, who said: “It has been a long week, we have had two very long trips.

“It was a bit of a disaster getting down here with the traffic but the physical effort of this group of players has been phenomenal.

“Perhaps we were just feeling it in the last 10 minutes but the character, grit and determination we have got us over the line and we managed to get a positive result.

“Everybody who watched this game will see Exeter are a very good football team. They passed the ball well, they have got nice rotations, they are obviously well drilled and well coached. And the run of the games they have had, some of their results have not been just so we knew it was a tough one.

“There is some real technical ability and I am not sure whether we have unlocked it to its maximum to this point.”

Burton boss Dino Maamria was the happier of the two managers at the end of a goalless draw against Leyton Orient.

“I thought we played some of the best football we have played this season”, said Maamria. “All it needed was a goal. We weren’t as clinical as we have been lately, and we missed some big, big chances.”

Both sides had opportunities late on, with the best probably falling to Burton skipper Deji Oshilaja who could only fire over when unmarked inside the box.

Maamria added: “If Deji scores that chance with five minutes to go everybody would have been, hey, what a performance that was.”

The Burton boss was forced into changes owing to injury and admitted he tweaked his formation to cope with a strong Orient side.

He said: “We changed shape to fit the personnel we had available and to nullify their threats. They have been in really good form and they are hard to beat. They normally dominate possession and today we dominated that.

“I felt our game plan was perfect and all we needed was a goal. Max [Crocombe] had a big save at the end of the game, but their keeper made some unbelievable stops; Josh Walker early on with a point-blank save and then Tom Hamer’s chance. I don’t know who made the save, the keeper or a block on the line. We had clear-cut chances which came from our good football.”

Richie Wellens felt that the hectic schedule was a factor in a below-par performance from Orient.

“The second half stank of a third game in a week and a second away game in four days. We were really poor in the second half,” he admitted.

Striker Ruel Sotiriou failed to capitalise on a first-half chance when through on goal which frustrated the Orient manager.

“We were good at times in the first half, playing through them and Ruel has the best chance going straight through one on one and just has to tidy his touch up. We are disappointed in there.

“Burton had won four on the bounce at home before today, so we knew it was a tough place to come,  but the first half was more how we want to play the game and in the second half there were too many long throws and free-kicks,  and we just have to grow up and change with it.”

All things considered Wellens felt the result was fair as both sides hit the 20-point mark sitting safely in mid table.

He said: “All in all, did we deserve to win? Probably not. They could have nicked it in the end but with a lack of goalkeepers making big saves, apart from at the end, a draw was probably a fair result.”

Ian Evatt refused to get carried away by his Bolton side winning three League One matches in the space of eight days.

Wanderers are only outside of the top two on goal difference after a 2-0 win at Charlton.

Bolton boss Evatt said: “It’s been a really good week – it’s been a positive week. To win the two games we have, away from home, in particular – a lot of travelling – against two very good teams is great credit to the players.

“It takes a huge amount of togetherness and people to buy into what we’re doing. Some players haven’t played today but they are there supporting the players. Some that have know the standards now are sky-high and when they do get opportunities they need to apply themselves in the right manner.

“It was an outstanding first-half performance. We wrestled control of the game. We should and could have scored more. They made it a transitional game second half and went gung-ho. We created so many chances and looked such a powerful team and front foot. We defended the box when we needed to.

“We created a hell of a lot. I’m delighted with the week and the points we’ve got but it’s only a week in football – we know things can change pretty quickly, so there is no-one getting ahead of themselves. We need to reset and get ready for an FA Cup match next week.”

The visitors scored twice in the space of five first-half minutes.

A short-corner routine saw wing-back Randell Williams curl in from the edge of the penalty area in the 16th minute – the Addicks were down to 10 men with Terell Thomas waiting to come back on after receiving treatment.

Soon after Dion Charles thrashed the ball past Ashley Maynard-Brewer to take his goal tally for the campaign into double figures.

Addicks head coach Michael Appleton was left unhappy with referee Geoff Eltringham.

“One goal is a wonderful finish and sometimes that happens – you can’t do too much about that,” he said.

“I get the ruling when you have got a player off the pitch. He (Eltringham) made it clear that the ball was sufficiently down that side for him not to enter the pitch.

“What made it doubly difficult was because the ref blocked Scott Fraser from being able to track the ball and it came from the side that Terell would be defending.

“Apart from the two goals, I can’t be too disappointed. I’m obviously disappointed to lose 2-0 against a good side but when it comes to xG (expected goals) we were higher than Bolton.

“That may be hard to believe but I can actually believe that. It’s easy when you’re losing to feel sorry and step away from it but the way the players reacted in the second half gives me great confidence going forward.

“There is still a belief within the group they can do good things this season.

“First half we were a little bit shy of them and weren’t aggressive enough. We probably showed them too much respect.”