Ross Embleton feels that his Leyton Orient players need to have a “stronger mindset” in certain types of games.

The O’s conceded twice in three minutes in their 2-2 draw at home to Oldham Athletic yesterday, with Zak Dearnley’s brace coming only two minutes after the home side had taken the lead themselves.

While Orient were able to get back into the game through Danny Johnson’s second-half strike, Embleton was left frustrated at the fact his side gave themselves so much to do.

He said: “The message to the lads there is that too many times this season has that happened. The first half has been a ‘huff’ type of performance and then we’ve come out all singing all dancing and put it right, whether it be with a win or a with a draw. I’m not willing to accept that now.

“We’ve taken the lead in the last two weeks, deservedly so today, and then our mindset changes. I feel there needs to be a little bit more of a stronger mindset, obviously to not let an opposition back in, but we need to manage the game better. There have been too many times this year when we’ve conceded at poor times in the game – whether that be late in the 90th minute or just before or after half time. The big moments in the games are where we have to manage better.”

All four goals in the game were a result of some sloppy, static defending, but Embleton felt the manner in which Orient conceded the equaliser was particularly poor given they had multiple opportunities to stop it.

He said: “First and foremost, the manner in which we gave the corner away was sloppy. We didn’t work the throw-in down the line or work out way out of that corner well enough, which therefore would not have led to us having to defend a set-piece.

“We knew that Oldham were going to come here and try to make it difficult for us today and there was a massive focus on when they do get their opportunities to put the ball in the box, whether it be a long throw, a free-kick or a corner, we’ve got to be ready and switched on to defend those.

“I won’t point a finger at people because I haven’t actually watched the goals back, I won’t do that until later. But for me, numerous opportunities for us to defend, people losing their markers and ultimately we gave away a sloppy goal and I don’t think the second goal was too dissimilar.”

Although the O’s were not able to build on their decent form of late, they were still able to take a point from a difficult situation in going behind in the manner they did, and that was something that Embleton reserved praise for.

He said: “I’m disappointed that we didn’t build on going 1-0 up today but ultimately, as disappointed as I am, if we’re going to take some positives out of it, we’ve come away with a point, and for me a deserved point.

“We probably never tested their goal as much as we wanted to do in the second half, but it was definitely more of a positive performance in the second than it was in the first. We’ve talked about our poor home form and our lack of results here, and ultimately we’ve started to improve that.

“Of course, we want to win more games than we have done. Today, I feel we should have come away from the game with three points, but we’ve shown a resilience to get back in the game and a strength of character to come back from a poor period.”