After recovering from the virus that kept him out of Tuesday's trip to Hartlepool, the back injury Johnny Mullins picked up at Manor Farm on Thursday  didn't respond to treatment and he didn't board the bus that left for London yesterday afternoon. The skipper's omission gave Andy Halls another chance to impress at right back.

The big change from Tuesday, though, came in central defence with Sam Barnes given his first start in place of Danny Swailes.

The Gaffer made a third change with James Vincent being preferred to Richie Partridge.

County: Fon Williams; Halls, Huntington, S Barnes, Sadler; Vincent, Turnbull, Perkins, Johnson; Ibehre, Donnelly.

Subs: Partridge, Gerrard, Poole, Pilkington, Rowe, Disney.

Adam Chambers started things off with an effort from edge of the area, but it was easily held by Fon Williams.

County had a well-worked corner after 3 minutes, when Johnson played the ball in, Sadler flicked on with a good leap at the near post, Huntington got close but was unable to apply finish at the far post.

Orient's Charlie Daniels went looking for his first goal of the season when he fired at Fon Williams, but the Welshman made a fine save when he palmed it away with his right hand for a corner.

The Hatters had a great chance to take the lead on 27 minutes when Paul Turnbull's cross fro the right found George Donnelly; the striker didn't make enough contact with his shot, though, and Jamie Jones made the save.

The referee then let Orient take a quick free kick on the half hour, and Eric Lichaj found himself in space - but his shot from the edge of the area went wide left of the target.

On 40 minutes Ryan Jarvis fired a fizzing shot on the turn, but Fon Williams dove to his left and did well to hold on to it.

0-0 it finished at half time, and County could certainly be grateful to Owain Fon Williams for a string of fine saves. Both teams came out in the second half unchanged.

That man Jarvis broke the deadlock with eight minutes gone in the second half. Fon Williams failed to hold on to the initial effort from Sean Thornton and Jarvis reacted quicker than Andy Halls to score from the rebound.

There was controversy on the hour mark after Jimmy Smith's challenge on Mat Sadler. Sadler was left needing lengthy treatment by Rodger Wylde, and Jabo Ibehre squared up with Smith. Smith appeared to throw a punch at Ibehre, but it was missed by the officials - instead both players were booked.

Ibehre wasted a fine opportunity to equalise after 65 minutes. Fine play by Donnelly ended with Ibehre finding himself in the box - but, with three teammates in the area, he instead chose to blast a shot away, which ended up high in the stand.

It was 2-0 to the home side with ten minutes left. American Eric Lichaj played a little dummy that left Richie Partridge for dead, shot from the edge of the area and left Fon Williams clutching at thin air.

County had a couple of chances in the dying moments, including a header from Andy Halls following a Danny Pilkington cross, and a shot from outside the area by Paul Turnbull, but it wasn't a vintage day for the Hatters. One bright point was the performance of Sam Barnes, who put in an almost faultless performance on his debut.