Richie Wellens moans at officials after 10-man Leyton Orient let late lead slip

Leyton Orient head coach Richie Wellens was unhappy at the refereeing performance of Samuel Allison as his 10-man side let a late lead slip to draw 1-1 at home to Blackpool.

A stoppage-time equaliser from Ashley Fletcher cancelled out Aaron Connolly’s opener, with Tayo Adaramola seeing red early in the second half after picking up a second yellow card.

Wellens was particularly unhappy with the equaliser from the visitors, as he felt Dan Happe was fouled, but he expressed his frustration at general with officiating in League One.

He said: “It was a foul on Happe for their equaliser, pulls his shirt and trips him up. I just cannot believe how bad the refereeing performances are.

“I don’t usually like doing it, but it’s so poor is untrue.

“Two weeks ago we win a penalty and their goalkeeper has made no attempt to play the ball, he doesn’t make a play for the ball but the referee doesn’t send him off.

“Last week we should have had two penalties against Exeter City.”

But Wellens did admit the red card was deserved.

He added: “It was a lack of discipline from Adaramola. He did it twice where he gave the ball away and he should make better and more experienced decisions.”

Connolly opened the scoring after 23 minutes for the east London side, with a finish low and hard from outside the box that was too much for Bailey Peacock-Farrell.

The hosts were a man light just two minutes after the interval when Adaramola was dismissed for a second yellow card.

Goalkeeper Killian Cahill had to keep out a Fletcher effort from point blank range a minute later, but was beaten by the same player in stoppage time.

The result ended a run of five successive home wins in all competitions for Orient and was also a rare point on the road for Blackpool.

With eight away defeats in nine before the fixture, it was a welcome relief for head coach Ian Evatt.

He said: “The first 45 minutes we wasted. We weren’t doing the things we’ve been coached to do throughout the week.

“To concede a goal from a throw-in is bitterly disappointing. We were thinking about tactics but we forgot about the basics. So that’s a lesson.

“The second half was a much better reaction, we played with intensity and speed at times. But it’s having belief that we keep the ball moving quickly.

“We have to keep finding a way of getting results over the next three or four weeks, to get all the players back.

“The cavalry is coming, we just need to keep getting results to get us in a position where we’re competitive when they return.”