DEFENDER Tamika Mkadawire has revealed his frustration at Saturday's defeat at Port Vale that has all-but ended Orient's play-off hopes.

The former Hereford center-half, who was making his return to action from a hernia operation almost put the O's back in front with a spectacular effort that hit a post just before the hosts scored their second in the Londoners 2-1 defeat.

And Makandawire was left bitterly frustrated by this latest setback, as Martin Ling's men were once again narrowly beaten.

He said: "We still had an outside chance of making the play-off's, but losing Saturday probably means it is going to be a step too far for us now.

"The thing that frustrates you most about the second half of the season is that we have been awful close from taking something from a number of games.

"Like on Saturday had my chance gone in then we probably would've gone and won. If that happens things look an awful lot different, but that is football.

"If you don't take your chances you get punished, and while our fantastic start to the season lifted expectations we should still have gone on from there to make the play-off's.

"It is hard to put your finger on what has gone wrong, because I wouldn't really say there have been too many teams that have proved they are better than us this season.

"So while we are a bit down we need to end the campaign well by finishing as high up the table as we can and then look to push on next time and make sure we go up."