BARRY Hearn has had to deal with some hard men in his time as a boxing promoter, but it would be a surprise if he has ever been faced by the frustrated and angry anguish of the fans at Brisbane Road on Saturday.

Hearn, the Leyton Orient chairman, bore the brunt of their abuse as they watched the O's concede their fifth, sixth and seventh consecutive goals at home in only two games and give another lacklustre performance against Scarborough in front of the supporters who have still to see Orient win in London.

Cries of "Taylor out" and "What a load of rubbish" echoed regularly around the ground as Orient lost heart. Hearn was also asked by certain sections of the crowd to get his cheque book out and sack Tommy Taylor, the team boss, before things went beyond repair.

But Hearn lost his temper when the fans ignored his pleas before the game to lay off his players. In the programme notes he asked them, politely, to be patient. When they were not, he labelled the boo-boys "morons."

He said before the game: "Don't get on the players' backs if they are not 2-0 up after 20 minutes. Just get behind them until the referee blows the final whistle."

But when the fans saw the O's go 2-0 behind after 20 minutes, it was them the neutral had sympathy with, rather than the team, and naturally they began the boos when simple passes went astray and balls were kicked aimlessly up the field with about as much imagination as a small insect could muster.

On more than one occasion Hearn stood up to gesture to theirate supporters from the directors' box. At half time and full time he spoke to some of them face-to-face, but when the press got hold of him after the game, it was clear he was an unhappy man.

He effectively blamed the supporters for the side's recent dismal displays at Brisbane Road.

"These sort of supporters would do me a favour if they went away and supported somebody else. It is absolutely ridiculous," he fumed.

"It is no surprise that we are doing much better away from home and it's the mindless morons who are upsetting the players. The worry now is also that players will not want to come and play for us if they know are fans are so intolerant."

Taylor had little to say about the crowd's reaction, but defender Stuart Hicks summed it all up honestly.

"Of course it affects you when you hear the fans complaining," he said, "but we should be professional enough to get on with the game and cut out the silly errors that we are making at home."

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