Dean Cox expects the O’s to face their toughest test yet this season at promotion rivals Peterborough United on Saturday and believes the game will demonstrate how far Orient have come in the last year.

Peterborough were widely fancied to earn automatic promotion following last season’s relegation and have lived up to these high expectations with an impressive start to the campaign under Darren Ferguson.

The Posh have one of the strongest squads in the division, featuring eight-goal Britt Assombalonga who signed from Watford in the summer, but Cox insists the League 1 leaders have nothing to fear ahead of the trip to London Road.

The O’s winger said: “I think for us they’ve [Peterborough] spent a lot in the transfer market and we’ll see how far we’ve come. They’re one of the better sides but we will go there and give it a go. There’s three points up for grabs and we’ll go there in our normal manner, work hard, try to create chances and win the game.

“I would think so [toughest game] with the squad they’ve got. They have a fantastic squad but so have we. I think they might be a little bit more scared than they would have been.”

Orient have led the division for virtually the entire season but the players have remained level headed and refused to let the success go to their heads. Cox typifies this mentality and claims the side are just focused on enjoying their football and keeping their form going.

He said: “We’re not going to get carried away but it’s great to be top of the league at the moment and it’s better looking down than up.

“We need you lot [media] to try and keep it down though. We don’t want to get carried away but it’s fantastic for a club of this size. We’re not the biggest club in the division, in terms of the budget and squad, but we’re all grinding together and want success. At the moment we’ve got that and we just want to maintain that.

“We have to keep our feet on the ground and work hard. The drills won’t change and we have to stick together and I really believe we can go far this season.”