With lack of goals at the heart of Orient's woes, the last thing the east Londoners needed was to see a ghost in a Scunthorpe shirt come back to haunt them.

But that is more or less what happened at Glanford Park on Saturday, where Orient went down 2-1.

Gary Hooper played six games for Orient and scored two goals earlier in his career, and this weekend he was a constant thorn in the side of Kevin Nugent's make-shift back line, in Lincolnshire, a heartland of the old industrial north.

Three points were vital for each side. Scunthorpe for their promotion campaign, Orient for their survival bid.

The absence of top scorer Adam Boyd with an injury picked up against Southend on Tuesday made this task harder.

And from kick-off, Scunthorpe looked like they wanted it more.

The Iron won a number of corners inside the opening quarter of the game and also brought Orient's stand-in keeper into the action.

19-year-old Jamie Jones was guarding the net in place of the ill Glen Morris, and he deputised well, after a heart in mouth three minutes in when he spilled a Hooper cross on his goal-line.

The youngster was confident in dead ball situations and had good hands. In the second half, beneath the chants and derision of the Scunthorpe faithful he showed no sign of wilting.

Jordon Spence was another unfamiliar face in the back line, at centre half in place of Alton Thelwell.

There was plenty of he and his team-mates to think about during a first half where Hooper and Hayes linked together to great effect and created numerous openings.

Martin Woolford in mid-field harnessed the attack to mid-field and Scunthorpe raked the flanks too.

It meant the Ryan Jarvis and young Dean Morgan in attack had little to feed upon. Morgan raised a rare cheer among the 144 fans who had travelled from the capital city when he fired off a half volley which shot past the past.

The only other meaningful threat to Joe Murphy in Scunthorpe's goal came from the dead ball and Jason Demetriou's boot. The young O's midfield sent the ball beneath the wall and forced a diving save from Murphy.

But Scunthorpe's cutting edge told in the last minute of the first half. Number nine Paul Hayes found himself un-marked in 8 yards out and shot high into the net from Garry Thompson's cross.

Orient fought back after the break and were rewarded in the 58th minute. The equaliser came from on-loan Dean Morgan.

He latched onto a defence shredding through ball from the otherwise quiet Ryan Jarvis to go one-on-one with the Scbunthorpe keeper. Morgan converted with aplomb by slotting the ball under the on-rushing Murphy into the far corner from 18 yards After that, Orient rarely threatened again.

Scunthorpe reclaimed the lead less than 10 minutes later.

Thompson lashed the ball low past Jones to finish a scrappy phase of play inside the Orient area.

It was the winning goal and Orient once again were punished for their lack of cutting edge up-front to leave pointless and with plenty to think about ahead of Tuesday's trip to face the MK Dons.

Attendance: 4,230