Leyton Orient head coach Justin Edinburgh said that his side “thoroughly deserved” to go on and win the game after a poor first-half performance in their FA Trophy win over Brackley Town.

Lee Ndlovu gave the National League North side the lead but Orient hit back in the second half with goals from Matt Harrold and Dan Happe, both after Macauley Bonne had seen his penalty saved.

Speaking after the game, Edinburgh said: “We were fortunate to still be in the game at half-time. I have to say the first half was probably the worst performance in any 45 since I’ve been managing. The only positive at half-time was that we were only 1-0 down and still in the game.

“Credit to the players because they responded in the second half and they thoroughly deserved to go on and win the game.”

The substitutions that Edinburgh made in the game had a big effect, with Harrold notching the equaliser before Jordan Maguire-Drew’s excellent delivery was nodded home by Happe to win the game, but he says that they cannot rely on impact substitutions for the rest of the season.

He said: “We don’t want to be putting subs on because we’re looking for a reaction. We’re in a very good position in the league and this was the quarter-final of a cup, we shouldn’t be looking for reactions in games like that at half-time.

“We didn’t perhaps get the reactions last week in the Maidenhead game but we certainly got them today.”

The poor first-half showing followed on from an unimpressive second-half performance last week against Maidenhead United, and Edinburgh said that he questioned the players at half-time.

He said: “It disappointed me, to question the players at half-time after the disappointing second half last week but we’re in a position that we haven’t been in before since we’ve come together as a group where we’re on a bit of an inconsistent spell.

“We’ve been very, very consistent over the period of time since we’ve come together so questions have been asked but they found the answer in the second half.”

The O’s looked to be heading for a replay until Happe popped up at the far post to head home, and Edinburgh was happy that his team would not have to play the extra game in an already tight schedule.

He said: “We certainly didn’t want a replay and obviously we were delighted to see Dan pop up with a good header off another good set-piece. We could have been well out of it in the first half and we’d have taken a replay at half-time but to not have to go through that and get through to the next round is excellent.”

Orient return to league action next Saturday (March 2) when they make the trip to relegation threatened Havant and Waterlooville.