A crowd of over three thousand turned out at the Withdean Stadium on Wednesday night to welcome back former manager Russell Slade.

Big Russ brought his Leyton Orient side to the south coast to take on his Albion successor in the first round of the Johnstones Paint Trophy.

With Gus’ comments in the media that he wants the league to scrap the JPT, it was with no surprise that the pace of the game was pedestrian for the majority as the Albion offered little in the way of entertainment for the paying crowd as  Orient held on for a comfortable 2-0 win thanks to a deflected effort from Dean Cox and a header by Ryan Jarvis from Matthew Spring’s freekick.

Here are some highlights captured randomly during the game:
(Contains some strong language)

And finally here is Russell shaking hands with Gus Poyet after the game:

Note to Tony and Gus —  If you want to put bums on seats next season, then you need to make a good impression on the kids at the Withdean in games like this. Why would they possibly want to come again as paying spectators after the display last night? Gus coming out and telling the press before the game that he’d like to see the JPT scrapped was a big error.  I’m sure many that had purchased tickets beforehand would not have done if they knew his attitude on the competition.