Richie Wellens sets silverware target after Leyton Orient play-off final defeat | OneFootball

Charlton ran out 1-0 winners at Wembley to seal Championship spot

Richie Wellens says Leyton Orient’s League One play-off final loss “fuelled the fire” of his desire to win silverware with the club.

Wellens’s side were in the relegation zone as recently as November but defied the odds to reach the play-offs with an exceptional second half of the season.

They reached the play-off final by knocking out third-place Stockport in the semi-finals but will remain in League One after failing to make it past Charlton at the Wembley showpiece.

“We’re gutted to lose, but in terms of the game, did we deserve to lose? I don’t think so. I think we were the better team for a lot of things,” Wellens told Standard Sport after the match.

“It is [amazing]”, he said of reaching the play-offs, “but we want to grow the club. I’m not happy just sitting on my laurels and going through the motions. I want to win things. Listen, today only fuels the fire.

“100 per cent, it’s been a good season. Last season was a good season, we just fell short of the play-offs.

“We need to improve, because every year we lose loan players, we lose two or three of our best players, and then we have to build and build, and it takes time, and then we have a slow start, and then we get going, and we get to the summer, and we lose players.

“It can be tough, and it’s something that as a club we can do better.”

Wellens was aggrieved with the officials after a seven-minute stoppage in play late in the game so that referee Andrew Kitchen could be fitted with a repaired earpiece following technical issues. Despite the fact that there were 11 minutes of stoppage time as a result, Wellens complained to officials both during and after the match.

Speaking about whether that disrupted the O’s momentum as they looked for an equaliser, he said: “Of course it did. I think it’s slightly embarrassing.”