AN AMAZING game in the West Country saw Orient stretch their unbeaten run to 11 games and record their first win at Plymouth since 1927 -- only their second in 21 attempts.

It was testament to Tommy Taylor's bravery that the O's managed their stunning victory. After just 29 minutes, he decided to put Steve Watts on as a third striker, removing Wim Walschaerts who had already been shifted into defence after an early injury to Stuart Hicks.

The O's boss deserves to be named manager of the month for this decision alone. It was a brilliant, tactical ploy and worked perfectly. This allowed Richards to play wide on the right and Watts to partner Carl Griffiths down the middle.

The risk almost paid immediate dividends. With five minutes remaining before half time, Clark fed Lockwood on the left wing.

His high ball into the box was touched down by Griffiths into the path of the oncoming Watts who held off three defenders and drove the ball past Jon Sheffield for the equaliser.

Argyle had broken the deadlock in only the ninth minute when a corner from the left was flicked on and the unfortunate Matthew Joseph slid the ball past his own keeper in an attempt to clear. It was a disastrous start, but one that did not faze the O's in the least.

By this time, Orient had already lost inspirational defender Hicks when he collided with an opponent on the halfway line. His replacement, Kwame Ampadu, slotted into midfield and Orient compensated by pushing Joseph across to centre back and Walschaerts back to the right side of defence.

Orient's first real effort came when Tony Richards was brought down on the edge of the box after a good run. The free-kick was cleared to Dean Smith and his goalbound shot was deflected for a corner.

Matthew Lockwood found Simon Clark with his set piece cross but, agonisingly for the O's, his header hit the bar.

After the interval, Orient came out fired up and began to take the game to Plymouth, but disaster struck on the hour when Smith injured himself in a tackle. Although the skipper attempted to run the injury off, he was in obvious pain and with only Craig Maskell on the bench, the Orient defence was down to its bare bones. Only Clark remained from the "three amigos" that had started the match and away from home, Orient were now playing with four forwards.

But they took the lead through a rare Martin Ling goal in the 72nd minute. Good work from Billy Beall and Watts, on the right wing, led to Ling collecting the ball on the edge of the box and he hammered the ball home.

The lead didn't last long, however, as Michael Collins pushed forward from the back and levelled matters two minutes later, blasting past MacKenzie from close range.

Orient won a corner with ten minutes to go and once again, Lockwood provided a trademark delivery and the Londoners had the lead again as Tony Richards diverted in Clark's header.

Home heads dropped and when McCarthy was dismissed for a second bookable offence, after a foul on Beall, there was no way back. Orient sealed victory with five minutes to go when Griffiths was felled by Jon Beswetherick in the box. He dusted himself off before sending John Sheffield the wrong way and scoring the O's fourth goal.

Before the game, Argyle had conceded just five home goals all season and Taylor was understandably pleased with his team's efforts.

He said: "It's good to have different names on the scoresheet but as long as we win I don't care who scores."

Watts was over the moon after netting for the second time in two weeks. "This whole thing is a dream for me," he beamed. "I know I have to get a bit fitter and it's a shame I can't play next week, but I haven't seen Orient lose and hopefully we can carry on and get promoted."

No other side in the country has gone as long unbeaten as the O's and, with the side now in second place in the Nationwide League division three, they can go into the AXA FA Cup second round tie at Kingstonian full of confidence and with a great chance of going 12 games unbeaten.

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