Russell Slade believes his side are in decent shape ahead of their Capital One Cup season opener at Charlton Athletic.

The Leyton Orient manager has brushed aside any concerns about his team, after three defeats to non-league clubs during pre-season, and insists they are ready for their cup clash at The Valley on Tuesday night.

Slade, whose side do not start their League One campaign until a week on Saturday at Tranmere Rovers, said: “It’s a big challenge, isn’t it? They [Charlton] were obviously top dogs in our league last year and rightly got promoted.

"Chris Powell will be looking to sustain that really and make sure they’re a Championship side come the end of the season.

“I don’t know how he’s going to approach that game but for me all games are important and I know he’ll want to get off to a good start in the Championship as I will in League One.

“A cup run is a good thing as we know only too well when we got to the fifth round of the FA Cup the season before last. If we can progress in the tournament by turning over Charlton then that will be fantastic.

“It’s a first,” Slade said of opening the new campaign with a cup tie. “I’ve done 550 games and it’s an absolute first having a cup game as the first match of the season. It does seem strange playing somebody from another league but that’s the way it is.

“Whether they’re experimenting I’m not too sure but what I am sure of is the games come thick and fast in those first two months and we’ve got to be ready for that.

“The next couple of weeks are about the sharp work and that’s the process we’re going through right now coupled with the games. We will get sharper and sharper and that’s what happens. We’re on course, that’s the most important thing.”

Orient were beaten 1-0 at Luton Town on Saturday but did manage to defeat Queens Park Rangers Reserves 2-1 in a behind-closed-doors game on Tuesday afternoon through a David Mooney penalty and a Dean Cox goal.

Slade handed the captaincy to new signing Nathan Clarke at Kenilworth Road and it was subsequently confirmed the defender will skipper the O’s this season.Despite the defeat to the Hatters, the manager insisted he was happy with the workout and unfazed about the result.

Slade said: “I just thought it was a seriously good workout and it’s the sort of workout you need pre-season. I was very impressed with Luton, who were well organised.

“I could have changed things and I probably would have done if it was a league game but I wanted to work on 4-4-2, which was important. We did that for the entire game and I thought it was a really even match.”

He continued: 

“I thought Luton were slightly the better team in the first half but both sides played at a good tempo. In the second half they had the opportunity which they scored from, but we had three really great chances that on another day you would have expected to score one or two of them.

“There was a glorious chance for Jon Ertl from seven yards and I think Michael Symes’ header was from even closer so you would expect them to score those but maybe they’re saving them for the start of the season hopefully.

“It’s [Lack of goals] no concern at all. [Kevin] Lisbie was missing again and he makes us tick a little bit in terms of going forward. We didn’t take any chances with him as we didn’t with Mathieu Baudry, who we left out as well.

“I’m really pleased with the fitness side of it in terms of our base fitness. It’s just about our sharpness now in terms of being able to move our feet in the box and get our shot off.

“That’s the sort of sharpness we need and I’m confident and sure that will come,” the O’s boss added.