Leyton Orient 3 Dagenham & Redbridge 2, 16/4/16

A game in which... Francesco Becchetti proved – through his astute team selection – that he's more than just a psychopathic workplace bully and is actually in possession of a shrewd footballing brain. Who but him, after all, could have predicted that Orient's three goals would come courtesy of crosses from the much-maligned Sean Clohessy and Blair Turgott?

The three points and improved attacking performance were positives, of course, but the fact that in the closing minutes Orient were desperately clinging on to a narrow home victory over the worst club in professional football probably suggests no one should be partying too hard tonight. Worse still, in Francesco Becchetti's mind the result no doubt vindicates his latest round of lunatic decisions, meaning us fans can expect more of the madness while the club falls apart around us.

Jump off your seat moment... Take your pick from one of the many moments in which Armand Gnanduillet was either scoring or missing or being booed or being cheered or cupping his ear at the crowd or applauding the crowd or shooting at goal when Jay Simpson was unmarked and clean through to his right or not shooting at goal when clean through himself. To say that the Frenchman is an enigma would be an understatement on a par with describing the seventh circle of hell as "on the warm side". Or at least I assume it is – I'll check when Francesco Becchetti was last there and get his view on it.

Give that man a medal... "No man can test God's timing," tweeted Blair Turgott after his man of the match performance today, suggesting that he has waited all season to finally demonstrate his value to the team. The winger was a constant menace to the Dagenham & Redbridge defence – I say "defence", I mean "some random blokes standing around pointing a bit while Orient practised their attacking drills" – and well deserved his two assists.

Taxi for... Francesco Becchetti, naturally. So bizarre and damaging has been his behaviour and decision-making during his tenure at Orient that the official confirmation from Andy Hessenthaler that the president is now part of a committee that selects the team does not appear to have sent quite the seismic shockwaves that it should have. God knows I hope he never donates some of his billions to a hospital otherwise he'll be there in the operating theatre, Chianti in one hand, scalpel in the other, butchering patients on a daily basis but reassuring grieving relatives by recording video messages explaining how passionate he is about the medical facilities and that everything will be ok if they all stick together.

Nolan-watch... President Becchetti's masterplan to unleash the full potential of Kevin Nolan as a player by releasing him from the shackles of management had only 427 fatal flaws. One of which was that Kevin – who'd never been less than clear that the reason he came to Orient was to manage – was unlikely to be particularly motivated by playing under the cloud of the abject humiliation associated with being removed from his job after 14 matches. This was all moot anyway, as Kev was injured. So if he's out for the rest of the season does that mean he can resume management Mr Becchetti?

Meanwhile on Twitter... "No matter what you do, good or bad, people are always gonna have something to say about it. Keep your head up, stay strong and just breathe." No, not lyrics from a Christina Aguilera bonus track, but an inspirational quote posted by Orient's goalkeeping coach-turned-translator-turned-head of recruitment-turned goalkeeper coach again Rob Gagliardi. What prompted this? The negative reactions of fans to the news that loyal servant Lee Harrison had inexplicably been fired in favour of the Italian at the behest of Mr Becchetti, who entirely forgot to mention this grubby little episode in his video call to arms. Still, Forza Orient and all that...

GUEST BLOG: How a Bermondsey social worker nurtured the precocious talent of Laurie Cunningham

Sunday Times sports picture editor Dermot Kavanagh is currently writing the first full biography of Orient legend Laurie Cunningham. To whet your appetites, here he reveals how the influence of social worker and youth football coach Bob Cottingham helped lay Laurie's path to Leyton Orient... 

Young Laurie

Laurie Cunningham has been in the news recently with four different organisations choosing to remember him. English Heritage announced in February that a blue plaque is to be unveiled at his home in Finsbury Park later this year, and, on the week of what would have been his 60th birthday, Waltham Forest Council launched a joint venture with Leyton Orient FC and Kick It Out to fundraise for a statue of him to be sited at Coronation Gardens.

Cunningham'stime at Orient is well documented. The five years he spent at Brisbane Road after he arrived as a gauche teenager and was transformed in to a dazzling young star are rightly credited to the careful management and patient guidance of George Petchey and his assistant Peter Angell. 

But one other deserves to be given his due for playing his part in nurturing the precocious talent that Cunningham possessed. After being rejected by his local club Arsenal in 1972 and being told he was “not the right material” Cunningham could easily have walked away from the game if it wasn't for a man called Bob Cottingham.

Born in Yorkshire in 1922, Cottingham worked as a social worker in Bermondsey, south London, where he established a five-a-side team for the youngsters in his care. Then he moved to north London and worked in Islington where he founded a football team called Highgate North Hill named after the primary school where his son was a pupil. 

Cottingham was serious about football and attended a residential FA coaching course at Loughborough College in the summer of 1966, the week after England won the World Cup, and was influenced by the great Hungarian side of the 1950s led by Ferenc Puskas, who broke the mould of European football when they thrashed England 6-3 and 7-1 in the space of 12 months. 

The schoolboy team Cottingham assembled at Highgate was a true reflection of the area where he lived and included Turkish, Greek and Caribbean boys among its squad and they dominated the Regents Park League for years.

Cunningham joined in 1967 at the age of 11 and immediately made an impact. His natural athleticism and energy was irrepressible. Cottingham gave him free rein as a marauding winger and built the team around his startling pace. 

Cunningham became a regular visitor to the Cottingham home in Muswell Hill where he often stayed for meals,joined in family excursions and played football until dusk in the large back garden with family and friends. 

On match days Cottingham picked him up from Finsbury Park in his camper van, remembering to bring a spare pair of boots or socks for the forgetful youngster, and after matches, it was all back to Muswell Hill for hot dogs and orange squash. 

The idyllic environment, based around a love of football, must have held a strong appeal to the young Cunningham and was perfect for developing his talent.

Then in 1968 Cottingham organised an unusual football tour in Austria that doubled up as a family holiday. Highgate played in a mini-tournament against the youth teams of the national side and Rapid Vienna among others. 

Twelve boys travelled to Vienna by train and ferry and were billeted with local families. The boys made quite an impact: some had long hair, one was a skinhead with boots and braces and then there was Cunningham sharply dressed, but most startlingly to the conservative Viennese, black. 

The boys drew attention wherever they went, either playing in the park or on a day trip to the nearby Alps. As interest grew a TV camera crew was despatched to film them and interview Cunningham, who was inevitably the team's top scorer. His photograph appeared on the front page of a daily newspaper as well. 

When the trip came to an end after two weeks the boys were given a farewell reception at the Town Hall where a buffet was held in their honour by the Lady Mayoress. Cunningham had been the star of the tournament.

Back in London, Highgate continued their dominance in league and cup competitions and by the age of 14, Arsenal came calling for Cunningham. But when they rejected him at the age of 16, Cottingham was determined to find another London club that was sympathetic to his mercurial talent. 

At Orient, after an impressive trial in front of Petchey, he found a nurturing club who were prepared to devote time and energy to his young charge. Peter Angell told the young player that football like chess was a game where brains meant more than anything and you always have time to play while George Petchey assured him that if he carried on the way he was he would play for England one day. 

The rest, as they say, is history - the sort of history that is now being recognised with a statue and a blue plaque.

Different Class: Fashion, Football and Funk – The Story of Laurie Cunningham will be published by Unbound Books. Anyone who makes a pledge can have their name in the front of the book as an Orient fan. 

Read about Laurie Cunningham's time at Orient in this extract from my book Leyton Orient Greats.