Iron forward Lee Novak has been boosted by his brace in midweek and looks for the team to emulate the performance as they search for their maiden away league win of the season.
The Newcastle-born frontman notched twice against his boyhood rival club Sunderland to put the last year’s Trophy finalists out of the competition in the group stages. The goals also took the 31-year-old up to five for the season in 12 appearances.
Speaking to iFollow Iron, he said: “It was obviously a good feeling.
“I didn’t really think about it much during the game. It was after when I got back to the dressing room and looked at my phone and I had about 40 messages off different people. It was good to get the win.
“The gaffer spoke about wanting to get through before the game and, especially after the disappointing display against Crawley, we needed to put things right and I think we did. From the start, we controlled the game and on paper that’s probably the best League One team there is.”
With the Iron now eight games unbeaten at home in all competitions, the focus once again switches to the away form. Without a win in the league on their travels, Novak feels the Orient game is a good opportunity to get off the mark.
“We have to take our home form into the away games now and start getting points on the board,” he continued.
“We say it every week, but we actually have to go out and do it. We need to start climbing that table to get where we want to be.
“Last season, it was the opposite way round where we were better away. We’ve picked our home form up this season and Saturday is the next opportunity to pick up a positive result away from home.”
The London club were one of the shock eliminations from the FA Cup last weekend as they suffered defeat to Maldon and Tiptree on home soil - a result that subsequently saw the O’s manager lose his job on Thursday afternoon. The Iron forward was quick to allude to the fact they must’ve be underestimated.
“There are always shocks in the FA Cup and they had one of those go against them. They will want to put things right themselves and put the disappointment behind them," he said.
“As long as we go there and play the way we can - like we did on Tuesday - I’m sure we will go there and get a positive result.”
After a bad tackle on him in the EFL Cup back in August, Novak missed the rest of that month and the majority of September with an ankle injury, but has since returned with four goals in nine appearances in all competitions.
“I’ve trained every day since I’ve come back from injury and played in nearly every game too,” he stated.
“I feel good, hopefully I can contribute with more goals. I think I’ve got four since I’ve come back, which I’m pleased with. Hopefully I can get more and pick up a lot more wins as well.
“After missing seven weeks, it’s positive to be on that number so far. Hopefully I can get a few more to help the team.”
See much more from Lee Novak, Rory McArdle and Paul Hurst in the build-up to this weekend's game on iFollow Iron. Click here to subscribe.