THE LEYTON FC team has been turned upside down by the new boss in his quest for that elusive trait called character.

A month into the job at the Lea Bridge Road club, and Craig Edwards can dare to dream that the team he has moulded now has it.

Edwards has replaced almost the entire squad, and he was even forced to show the door to some of those replacements.

But now the changes could be bearing fruit, after Leyton’s 2-1 win against high-flying Concord Rangers last weekend.

It ended a streak of five games without a win. Out-of-sorts Romford beckon this weekend in Ryman Division One North.

Edwards told the Guardian he feels there is a new dawn at the club.

“There was a lack of character in the team. There was ability but no heart,” he said.

“To me, character is the most important thing in football. I cannot take players who do not have character.

“I have no-one but myself to blame for the people we brought into the club who did not have right attributes.

“But now the boys we have kept all have the right attributes. Two of the senior players are helping me out and I said after training last week that it’s a new dawn here.”

The Leyton players seemed to justify the manager’s optimism last weekend when they beat Concord after going behind when they conceded a first-half penalty.

Laurent Hamici levelled on 24 minutes. Then new signing Gary Blows sealed the win with 20 minutes to go.

Edwards was full of praise for his players.

“It was stacked against us at Concord Rangers. The one thing you do not want to do there is concede a penalty, which we did.

“But then we went on and won that game as comfortably as it’s possible to win a game 2-1.

“The players are finding out about me, and I am finding out about them.”

A home game against third-bottom Romford is next, on Saturday.

Edwards said: “I do not think we are going to brush teams aside, but we will go into the game a lot more confident than we have been.

“Romford will be a different test for the boys. They’re at the bottom and we are expected to beat them but we will have to work.”

Elsewhere in Division One North, Waltham Forest drew 1-1 with Ware at the weekend.

The Stags play landlords Ilford in the league this Saturday.

They were also due in Essex Senior Cup action last night, against AFC Hornchurch.

Meanwhile, in the Ryman Premier Division, Waltham Abbey went down 5-0 to Hornchurch at the weekend.

Abbey were due to take on Stanway Rovers in round three of the Essex Senior Cup last night.

Waltham Abbey travel to Sutton United this Saturday.