Wellens blasts keeper as Leyton Orient beaten by Birmingham

The O's lost 2-1, leaving them one place off the bottom of the League One table and still searching for their first point of the campaign.

And the boss was quick to point the finger and apportion blame.

Wellens said: "There is no hiding from it, our goalkeeper [Zach Hemming] has cost us points.

"We could easily be sitting here with six or seven points, so he needs to look at himself in the mirror and get better but I thought our response was fantastic."

Ethan Galbraith scored Leyton Orient's only goal. Picture: TGS PHOTO (Image: Gavin Ellis/TGS Photo)

The Orient keeper gifted Birmingham the lead on seven minutes when his intended pass was intercepted and Keshi Anderson steered the ball into an empty net.

The eventual winner came from Alfie May on 20 minutes but only after Ethan Galbraith had levelled on 14 minutes through an error from Hemming's opposite number.

Blues keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell also gave it away cheaply and Galbraith drilled the loose ball low into the corner of the net.

May's goal was tucked away from six yards after the ball was deflected into his path off an O’s defender.

From there though the two sides went toe-to-toe.

Dan Agyei coming closest for the hosts while the visitors' Paik Seung-Ho saw a curling shot from 20 yards narrowly miss the target.

Richie Wellens was not mincing his words after Orient lost to Birmingham. Picture: TGS PHOTO (Image: Gavin Ellis/TGS Photo)

"I thought we were the better team," Wellens continued. "They have quality, obviously, but for me, we were far better and the second goal was a bit of a killer for us.

"But we should have got something out of the game.

“I’m disappointed but proud at the same time. You only have to look at what they have and what we’ve got.

“The difference between us and them was that in the final third they were a bit sharper. They play and run, they play one touch and they’re very good at it.

"It’s those little moments where we weren’t as good as them.

"We need more from our subs. I’ve been disappointed with them so far."

Birmingham's victory was their second of the campaign and keeps them undefeated, one draw also among their three matches so far.

And head coach Chris Davies was insistent that they deserved their victory.

He said: "I thought it was a good performance again and we were the better team. We had more of the ball and created the much better chances in the game.

“We got off to a wonderful start, got our goal and then had a little bit of a setback but that didn’t stop us.

"We continued to persist and got that second goal quickly.

"To win away at any level in any league is never easy so we had to stand up and be ready for the challenge and we dealt with everything extremely well.

“We restricted them to very few chances and I thought we defended very well and our goals came from our pressing.

“Our centre-backs stood up and won their duels and were strong and physical. It’s a huge win for us."