Leyton Orient head coach Justin Edinburgh says the club need to “progress and move forward” following the confirmation of their return to the Football League.

Promotion has been on the cards for some time for Orient but it was only confirmed today after their goalless draw at home to Braintree Town.

The point picked up, though, seals the club’s return and they will be playing in League Two next season after two years of non-league football.

While delighted with securing the title and a place back where the fans feel the club belongs, Edinburgh feels there is a sense that this is just the beginning and the club now need to kick on.

After the game, he said: “This needs to be [just the start]. We can’t rest, we can’t stand still. We’ve got to try and progress and move forward. There’s a lot of planning to be done and we’ve done quite a bit of that.

“There’s some players to try and keep at this club but I think with where we are now we shouldn’t have any difficulty in keeping those players.”

The turnaround completed by the club since Edinburgh’s arrival in 2017 has been nothing short of miraculous, considering the turmoil surrounding the club at the time, but the boss was keen to hail it as a group success from everyone involved at the club.

He said: “Certainly off the pitch, I think there’s been some incredible foundations put in place by some very important people. The players, my staff and everyone connected staff-wise have done a fantastic job but I think today is about one set of supporters and that’s Leyton Orient. They deserve it.”

Although today’s result confirmed the promotion, it was effectively sealed last week when the O’s drew away at Solihull Moors, and Edinburgh said the assumption that the job had been done in that game made it a strange week in the build-up to the season’s ending.

He said: “That’s when it blows you away [when the full-time whistle goes]. It was a very surreal week because I think a lot of people thought it was done but when you actually start to look at it, for whatever reason we very rarely get beaten here, that can happen, I’ve been in football a long time. That five-goal swing can go pretty quickly.

“We stayed focussed and credit to the players. They never allowed themselves to lose that focus and what was at the end, which was today; the trophy, the title. This is the toughest league to get out of and we’ve accomplished it and I’m proud of everyone.”