Article: Ashley James

On a night when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Robbie Fowler made their competitive City debuts it was the young visiting goalkeeper that dominated the post match discussions.

"Stuart was today absolutely stunning, and the back four as a unit throughout handled them quite well," said O's boss Ling after the final whistle. "They hit the bar a couple of times and had a few chances but Nelson pulled out the stops with some stunning saves and we managed them ok."

However Orient boss Ling was also keen to heap praise upon his back-four as a whole in particular his solid centre-back pairing;

"I think our defense has been good all season," he added. "I thought Mkandawire and Alton Thelwell handled two quality players effectively and when they did have a chance Nelson came into his own."

In a refreshing and honest managerial appraisal Ling also acknowledged the sending-off of midfielder Sean Thornton mid-way through the second half as a slightly harsh but understandable decision from the man in black;

"Well it's an unlucky dismissal," he explained. "The second one was a booking; the sad thing about it is that Adam Chambers was just coming on for him because I didn't want to lose him for Saturday through a silly booking. They were two handballs that can be given and I've got no complaints, the first one looks a bit harsher than the second one to me, it's just a shame, in terms of professionalism I don't think it was very good from Shaun and we lose him for Saturday which is disappointing."

However the Orient manager also seemed to agree with Dave Jones' view that considering Cardiff's dominance of possession and territory the sending off ultimately had very little bearing on the final outcome.

"Even when we had eleven men we didn't have that many attacks, to be honest we had as many when we were down to ten," he said."It was always a backs against the walls type of game and you might just go sneak one with them losing their concentration at the back and Adam Boyd did have a good chance there to nick one but it was not meant to be."

Ling also sensibly indicated that while a victory would have been a great achievement and greatly appreciated there are more important matters at hand for his previously unbeaten League One outfit;

"It's always good to win and it always breeds confidence to win, it's a blow, but I don't think it's a major blow. The cup is always about making a few quid and if that few quid help us to get some players in to help us in the league situation is what it's all about. It would be nice to go into the hat and maybe get a nice third round draw but the cup run is now over and we must concentrate in the league and we can't let the fact that we were beaten in this game disturb us.

"We've had a great start to the season with the four wins and tonight's a blip but as long as it only stays that, a blip and we don't let it disturb us for Saturday then I'll be ok with it."

Overall it was clear that despite the obvious masked disappointment of a cruel cup exit he laid no blame for this at the feet of his players who all gave everything for the cause;

"It was a brave effort, I mean obviously going down to ten men didn't help," said Ling. "I thought it was a backs against the wall performance, the keeper was inspired and I thought we'd done enough in the ninety minutes to go to extra time.

"With ten men I've got no complaints with my team I thought defensively they were outstanding, they worked their absolute socks off again for me and it was a cruel way to lose the game in the end but, maybe a blessing in disguise that another thirty minutes with ten men might have taken a bit out of us for the bigger picture that is the league, it was a brave effort but we didn't really get down on the ball and they had an awful lot of the ball"