Leyton Orient1 Macclesfield Town3 (Coca-Cola League Two)

ORIENT: Morris, Barnard, Lockwood, Simpson, White, Mackie, Carlisle (Sub: Purser 70min), Hunt, Alexander (Ibehre 61), Steele, Scott (Newey 78).

ORIENT manager Martin Ling labelled his defence a shambles after his side were comprehensively beaten by Macclesfield, with a result that stretched their search for an opening day win to ten years.

He said: "A 3-1 home defeat is the worst possible start to the season and it certainly wasn't what the doctor ordered.

"I thought in the first half we played well, but after half time we were a shambles defensively.

"All three goals were naive defending and that's disappointing when you look at the experience of the centre of our defence.

"Lee Steele was probably our best player over the 90 minutes but in the second-half there were too many people who passed the buck."

Some woeful defending by the hosts let Matthew Tipton in to open the scoring for the visitors in the 40th minute when he got in behind a sleeping Orient backline to latch onto a long ball from from Tony Barras before unleashing a delicious lob from the edge of the box past O's keeper Glenn Morris.

Strike partner Parkin also profited from some dreadful marking by the east Londoners after the break as cooly helped himself to a second half brace with goals in the 74th and 82nd minutes that secured Macclesfield's first ever win at Brisbane Road.

The sorry hosts, who were jeered off by their fans at the end could only manage a late consolation effort from Wayne Purser, who poked home a close range cross from Matt Lockwood in the 83rd minute.

And Ling was fully understanding of the fans dismay at this opening season debacle. He said: "I can't blame the fans for their reaction but I'd ask them to keep the faith and we'll try and convince them what we're doing is right."