Leyton Orient midfielder Craig Clay feels the side play “better when we’ve got a busy schedule” after the O’s recorded their eighth straight win on Tuesday night.

The 2-0 win at home to AFC Fylde on Tuesday night was the perfect dress rehearsal for the FA Trophy final that Orient will contest in May against the same opposition, but they have a busy run-in in the National League to contend with prior to the final at Wembley Stadium.

Speaking after Tuesday’s victory, Clay said: “I think we’re better when we’ve got a busy schedule, just ticking the games off. Otherwise, we lose our momentum and it stops us.

“The start of the season was probably one of our better runs and that was when it was Saturday-Tuesday. We’re winning games, we’ve got eight wins on the bounce and everybody’s confident so we’re looking forward to the busy schedule.”

Orient’s schedule has recently been dominated by the FA Trophy, with both legs of their semi-final against AFC Telford United coming in the previous two Saturdays, and Clay praised the professional performance that the side put in against Fylde after such a demanding game against Telford three days earlier.

He said: “It was a professional and efficient performance. I think you could tell from probably the first five or ten minutes that we were here to be beaten. I think we took our chances and I don’t remember them breaking us down. I think they had one header in the second half that flashed just wide but apart from that we were solid and I never thought we were going to concede.

“We did the job on Saturday, we got to Wembley but we said in the changing room before that we need to put that to the side as we’ve got a job to do now for the league.

“We know we’re probably one of the fittest teams in the league, so disrespect to anyone else, we know that we pride ourselves on that and we know that we can go for the full 90 minutes when other teams go after 60 or 70. We had no worries about the fitness, it was just a good win for us.”