Leyton Orient are in mood to party

Fulham - 1 Leyton Orient - 2: Leyton Orient's players and management staff had to pay a fine every time they mentioned Fulham over the festive period to make sure they concentrated on league matches but that word will be uttered gleefully by them now for years to come. Hungrier than their Premiership opponents, the League Two team deservedly won at a ground where Liverpool were beaten in October.

Orient may have enjoyed moments of fortune, with their first-half goals going in via deflections and their goalkeeper Glyn Garner saving a penalty from Collins John that would have made it 2-2. But Fulham could not complain at the outcome; their angry manager Chris Coleman did not, castigating 80 per cent of his players for "a bad attitude".

Several of Orient's team departed on the Tube, heading for a Loughton restaurant where the squad were holding a belated Christmas party. "I don't want the girls chasing after them now," joked the manager Martin Ling.

Ling's team had heroes all over the pitch, with Garner saving the penalty, the captain John Mackie holding the defence together, the central midfielders Craig Easton and Michael Simpson excelling with their tireless and tidy play, Joe Keith's work including the decisive goal, and Gary Alexander and Jobo Ibehre causing problems up front. Orient were not just indefatigable but neat, using the ball better overall than a wasteful Fulham.

Coleman exonerated his defenders, which was kind on the shaky Zat Knight and Ian Pearce, but fiercely criticised the rest. He put defeat down to "offensive arrogance", with too many players guilty of "a lack of effort and enthusiasm". He selected his best available team and sorely missed Papa Bouba Diop, who has gone to the African Nations Cup, and the combative Brian McBride, who was injured.

Coleman, who should complete the signing of Southampton's goalkeeper Antti Niemi today for £1 million, refused to blame a long list of absentees.

There was a period in the second half when it seemed Fulham might force a replay but, after John's penalty miss, they did not have a shot of note until the 88th minute. Though John had scored earlier, he was one of the below-par performers. Tomasz Radzinski and Luis Boa Morte also contributed too little; Ahmad Elrich made scant impact. Simon Elliott, signed last week from Columbus Crew, had a debut to forget, deflecting in the opener after he failed to clear and giving the ball away to see Orient start a slick build-up for 2-0.

Orient went ahead through Easton's shot from near the edge of the box after Elliott failed to deal with a Keith cross, and Easton later laid on a pass for Keith to score via a deflection off Liam Rosenior.

Fulham threatened little but responded when John accelerated on to Radzinski's pass to fire in. The Orient dream was in danger when Gabriel Zakuani pushed Boa Morte for the penalty but Garner saved. "That was probably the most important save of my career," said the goalkeeper. "At 2-1, if they had scored a second, they probably would have gone on to win."

Garner merely had to tip over a Sylvain Legwinski shot to secure a famous victory and leave Ling celebrating what he called the best moment in nine years as an Orient player or coach. "We edged it on the pitch today," said Ling, "and certainly in the supporter department."

Guardian Service