Edging closer to the play-offs – Leyton Orient (Image: Cheltenham Town)

Cheltenham Town’s survival hopes suffered another blow as Leyton Orient netted three stunners in a comfortable 3-1 victory. 

The O’s went in at the break with a two-goal lead thanks to goals from Ethan Galbraith and Ollie O’Neill before Ruel Sortiriou added the icing on top of the cake with a third five minutes from time. Joe Nuttall netted a late consolation for the Robins who slipped to their second consecutive defeat.

Richie Wellens made three changes from Monday’s 2-1 defeat to Peterborough United as Khayon Edwards, Ollie O’Neill and Ruel Sotiriou came into the side for Dan Agyei, Shaq Forde and Jayden Sweeney.

KICK-OFF

The visitors came into this one on the back of a late 2-1 defeat at Exeter City and they came close on eight minutes as Lewis Freestone’s cross begged to be tapped home by George Lloyd but the 24-year-old couldn’t apply the finishing touch.

The O’s meanwhile struggled to get going in the opening exchanges. Their best chance came five minutes later when Sotiriou threaded the ball through to Ethan Galbraith whose strike stung the palms of Luke Southwood before Brandon Cooper’s ambitious strike flew over the crossbar from a free-kick.

A cagey affair sprung into life just after the half-hour mark as Orient broke the deadlock. Ethan Galbraith collected the ball from a distance and Luke Southwood couldn’t keep out his powerful strike.

The O’s continued to probe and should have doubled their advantage on 41 minutes as Sotiriou first saw his shot expertly parried away before Khayon Edwards couldn’t get a clean connection on his header.

Orient’s relentless pressure told as they reaped the rewards with a second two minutes before the break as former Fulham youngster O’Neill saw his curling strike sail into the top corner to ensure they were firmly in the driving seat heading into the second half.

HALF-TIME: Leyton Orient 2-0 Cheltenham Town

The Robins failed to capitalise on a goalkeeping mistake eight minutes into the second period to get back into proceedings. A free-kick from deep seemed to be going straight into the gloves of Sol Brynn but he failed to take hold of the ball and Curtis Davis had the easiest of finishes but he failed to hit the target.

The visitors, although struggling near the bottom of League One, had a point to prove and had a handful of half-chances to halve the deficit. Lloyd went through on goal but Brynn was on hand to deny the forward with a fine stop down to his left on 66 minutes before substitute Josh Harrop fired straight at the side-netting.

Any hopes of a late comeback were nearly diminished nine minutes from time as Sortiriou’s powerful strike from just outside the box flew over.

Sortiriou was eager to net his 11th League One goal of the season and he did just that in eye-catching fashion on 85 minutes to put the game beyond doubt. The Cypriot forward turned on the style as he fired an unstoppable strike past Southward.

A late strike from Nuttall proved to be too little, too late for Darrell Clarke’s side as the substitute managed to poke home from close range.

FULL-TIME: Leyton Orient 3-1 Cheltenham Town

The O’s now sit in tenth place but their play-off dream remains unlikely as they sit nine points off of Oxford United in sixth while Cheltenham sit two points adrift of safety.

Orient host Exeter City on Tuesday night.

Leyton Orient: Brynn, James, Brown, Sotiriou, Cooper, Moncur (Sanders 76′), Beckles (Simpson 60′), O’Neill (Forde 69′), Galbraith, Obiero (Hunt 77′), Edwards (Agyei 69′)

Cheltenham Town: Southwood, Long, Smith, Freestone (Thomas 46′), Kinsella, Sercombe, Keena (Nuttall 60′), Ferry, Lloyd (Harrop 68′), Davies, Pett