A FIVE-MATCH unbeaten run came to a disappointing end for Leyton Orient on Saturday, when Macclesfield Town netted twice in the space of sixty seconds to condemn the O's to a 2-1 defeat.o

s=9Steve Watts had given the visitors a dream start when he pounced on some hesitant Macclesfield defending to net for the eighth time this season, but Jeff Smith and Chris Byrne struck within a minute of each other just before the interval to turn the game decisively in the Cheshire side's favour.o

Orient boss Paul Brush was not best pleased with his side's attitude once they had taken the lead: "Complacent, casual, laid back, over-confident; all of those words could be used to describe our first half performance. I just wanted us to get through to half time to tell them a few home truths, but you work out your half time team talk after forty minutes and unfortunately it's all changed with one minute's play.

"We were second best in the first half, but although we responded well in the second half, I thought our passing let us down at times, giving the ball away too easily with simple things.

"We did have five or six tremendous moves with real quality, but too often we chose bad options and so had to work hard to get the ball back.

"It's going to be a long week now because we've got to play better than we did today I was satisfied with the effort, but not with the quality."

A costly defeat would have been the last thing on Orient's minds when they took the lead as early as the ninth minute.

Jabo Ibehre flicked Mikele Leigertwood's long pass into the box with an innocuous looking header, but home keeper Steve Wilson and debutant defender Steve MacAuley got in a muddle, gifting the ball to Watts, who nipped in to give the O's a perfect start.

Although Watts came close to doubling the lead twice afterwards, the early boost of a goal wasn't to last, and around the half-hour mark, Orient seemed to lose the initiative, sitting on their lead and allowing Macclesfield back in to the game.

Scott Barrett saved brilliantly down to his right-hand side when Ric Lambert headed goalwards on 36 minutes, but Orient failed to take notice of the warning signs and their slender advantage was surrendered five minutes later.

Ibehre gave away a clumsy foul thirty yards out in a position that would normally see a cross in from the left.

However, on-loan winger Smith caught Orient napping by sending in a shot which seemed to deceive Barrett, bouncing off his palms, on to the post and in.

If the Silkmen's equaliser had knocked Orient against the ropes, they were left out for the count just thirty seconds later when Chris Byrne swivelled to lift the ball into the roof of the net.

It proved to be a hammer blow that the visitors never fully recovered from, though they did show the desire to get back into the game.

However, the quality in their final ball was always lacking and genuine chances were hard to come by. In fact, Macclesfield had the best two opportunities to settle the matter after the break, with Chris Priest failing to connect with a dangerous Danny Adams cross six yards out and ex-West Ham midfielder Kevin Keen firing over.

With a little more luck, the O's may well have drawn level in the closing stages, but referee Tony Leake whistled for a foul on substitute striker Wayne Gray on the edge of the box a fraction of a second after he had released Jeff Minton for a clear shot.

Matt Lockwood took the resulting free kick, but his shot couldn't clear the wall and the chance passed, along with his side's hopes of extending what had appeared to be a promising unbeaten sequence.

f=Zapf Dingbats lo Owing to Christmas space constraints the Judge will be on holiday for two weeks. But rest assured, he will return in the new year.

f=Helvetica s=6ORIENT: Barrett (6), Joseph (6), Mcghee (6), Smith (7*), Leigertwood (5), Jones (6), Harris (6), Minton (6), Martin (6), Watts (6), Ibhere (7).

Subs: Houghton: Jones, 63 (6), Gray: Ibehre, 54 (6), Lockwood:Martin, 80 (6)