THERE wasn't much to enjoy about last Saturday's defeat at Leyton Orient. In fact, clutching at straws, I left the ground expressing a certain satisfaction at finally having heard a decent noise emanating from what we must now call the Matchroom Stadium on — I believe — my 14th visit.

Orient had the sort of day that City could really do with. We arrived looking unsettled and missing key players, especially at the back, where only Paul Jones and some Orient wastefulness spared us a really humiliating half-time deficit.

A lively spell after the break hinted at a game of two halves and a comeback similar to last year's in East London. For a quarter of an hour or so we got pretty good value for our 22 bleddy quid.

Perhaps the crucial moment came when a rasping drive from Liam Sercombe, seemingly goal-bound and probably our best effort of the day, cannoned harmlessly, if probably painfully, off Logie in the Orient box.

However, the O's were able to do some healthy strutting around with the points in the bag after being gifted a second goal courtesy of one of City's trademark caught in possession mix-ups. And they lashed home a third while the City fans were still busy jeering at an Orient player who nearly fell over. It was just that sort of day.

Notwithstanding my usual Crockford pledge to avoid being panicked into actually writing about football, let me lob a couple of observations your way.

Starting at the back, we just have to trust Paul Tisdale to get this one right. Missing Duffy and Taylor was always going to cause us problems and poor Billy Jones, who hasn't looked too comfortable in his more central defensive role, had a pretty rotten afternoon.

I must admit, for me Billy Jones is the classic straight up and down left-back. He always delivered the end product in terms of quality crosses and shots from that position.

I really hope Tis and Billy are able to work things out swiftly and I certainly wouldn't think any the less of either of them if Billy ended up back at left-back.

It was good to see Troy Archibald-Henville back in action as a second half sub. I know that a fair few City fans have been sceptical about Troy since he first signed on loan and having the pressure of a fairly chunky transfer fee spent on him isn't going to help.

For my part I've honestly never seen Troy play badly and I think getting him quickly back to full match fitness could be key to City settling into this season and finally looking solid in defence. No pressure, young Troy, but I'm counting on you!

Scott Golbourne is immensely likeable and I really want to see him succeed at City. What is it with the lad's crossing though?

He runs beautifully in possession and his movement off the ball is clever as well as impressively energetic. We're so close to having an absolute gem there, but his crossing and shooting simply have to get better.

One thought occurred to me at Orient? Is he perhaps trying to do too much, rather like a young fast bowler who is yet to find his stock delivery and instead is trying to deliver a real pearler every time?

If so, I say this to Scott. Ignore all the fancy coaching son. Just wang it in there and let those pampered strikers do the rest. There, sorted.

There wasn't much to savour about Ryan Harley and David Noble's play on Saturday and, unlike Scott, neither of them are likely to make up for some iffy end product with the amount of ground they cover.

For me, especially away from home, I think I'd settle for either of those two midfield maestros rather than both of them.

I'm working up quite a head of steam here so, before I go crazy and compile a full dossier to send to Tis, I'd better reign myself in with a frank admission that I like all of our strikers and have absolutely no idea which two I'd pick. Or should it be one? Or maybe three?

It felt like quite a steady summer at City, without any big transfers out and with Tis able to bring in good players to strengthen the squad. And yet there seem to be enough headaches for our manager to make this feel like an important little period of transition.

Hopefully our midweek Paint Pot win over 10-man Yeovil will have helped settle everyone down. It's certainly good to get a first victory under our belts, but three lovely League One points today would be even more welcome. Geddon City.