Leyton Orient stuns Arsenal to earn a replay
Leyton Orient earn a draw and also a trip to Las Vegas after substitute Jonathan Tehoue broke through to fire Russell Slade’s side into a replay and earned a visit to the Emirates for their fans.
A late Jonathan Tehoue equaliser cancelled out Tomas Rosicky’s early second half goal to send the 9000 odd Leyton Orient fans in the stands into delirium. Leyton Orient boss Russell Slade chose 37-year-old Scott McGleish – a boyhood Arsenal fan – and Alex Revell as his strike pairing up front, with on-loan Tottenham teenager Harry Kane having to wait for his chance on the bench. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger made the changes from Wednesday’s win over Barcelona, with Alex Song the only survivor of that side. He gave a debut for 18-year-old Spanish centre-back Ignasi Miquel alongside Sebastien Squillaci at the heart of the Gunners defence, but there was still plenty of experience elsewhere with the likes of Bacary Sagna, Andrey Arshavin, Maroune Chamakh and Nicklas Bendtner all starting.
Arsenal made a bright start and were dominant with the possession but failed to trouble the Leyton defence much. The best chance of the first half fell to Marouane Chamakh, in search of his first goal since November, but failed to capitalize on his opportunity as he woefully failed to make a strong contact from close range. Leyton Orient knew what to expect from Arsenal and sat back comfortably to defend deep in their own half and tried to hit Arsenal on the counter. But they didn’t manage to create anything in the first half as centre-backs Sebastian Squillaci and young Ignasi Miquel managed pretty well to stop the O’s from any decent tries on goal.
Nicklas Bendtner, who is never short of self-confidence, was once again at his wasteful best in the first half as he fired two chances well wide from the target from a promising position. With the score still 0-0 in the first half, Leyton Orient knew that they had done half the job but a sterner test awaits them in the second half. And the goal didn’t take long to come either. Arsenal were in the lead inside the 10mins of the second half as some good passing play found Bendtner in the box who inturn supplied a glorious ball to Tomas Rosicky to head home the Czech International’s 1st goal in more than a year (43 games to be precise). Arsenal deserved this lead but they knew that the tie wasn’t finished yet. The goal from the visitors spurred the hosts and Alex Revell proved to be a continuous threat for the hosts. Soon the manager introduced the pacy and erratic Frenchman Jonathan Tehoue whose all goals for the O’s has come as a substitute. The Frenchman’s pace down the right flank surprised Arsenal and suddenly Orient, with the fans behind them, started to trouble the Arsenal’s defence. Tehoue once again set up Revell but Revell’s ferocious drive hit Squillaci straight in the face. There were appeals of handball following soon after but the referee’s decision of not to award a penalty was spot-on.
As the game headed towards the dying stages, Arsenal thought that they had done enough to secure a Quarter-Final spot against Manchester United at Old Trafford but they were served a huge shock when Jonathan Tehoue somehow managed to squeeze past between Kieran Gibbs and Ignasi Miquel and struck a ferocious low drive which was too hard for Almunia to keep out. The stadium erupted as the equaliser went in and the joy was also evident on the face of Orient chairman Barry Hearn. The game headed into four minutes of injury time and the O’s managed to hold onto a precious draw. After the final whistle The Orient players were celebrating in the dressing room as if they’ve just won the Cup – and the home fans were signing “We’re better than Barcelona”. Only a complete cynic wouldn’t smile.