Dean Holden admits new recruits still need to get up to speed and explains Mandela Egbo’s absence against Orient

Dean Holden admitted some of his new recruits are still getting up to speed after Pan Camara and Tayo Edun both had to settle for a place on the bench against Leyton Orient.

The duo were both brought on against the O’s – with Camara replacing Karoy Anderson on 71 minutes and Corey Blackett-Taylor making way for Edun six minutes from time.

But Holden will remain patient whilst he waits for his summer signings to be able to be involved from the off.

He said: “[Camara] has not played football for a long, long time and played minimal minutes throughout pre-season. He’s had a broken pre-season, as have a lot of recruits for different reasons.

“Tayo Edun looked really sharp when he came on. He had a different pre-season, was stuck with a group of four players at Blackburn so he wasn’t up to speed and playing any games.

“Terry Taylor was not quite ready for today, he’s had an ankle operation and not played any minutes. These new guys are getting up to speed.”

Manny Egbo was not named in the matchday squad at all, with 18-year-old Nathan Asiimwe starting in his place at right wing-back.

“[Egbo] is fit,” added Holden.

“He’s fighting with Nathan in that position, and we feel Nathan has got ahead of him. You can’t pick everybody unfortunately. It’s the hardest part of the job picking a team and leaving players out. You’ve got to make those calls and find the right balance for the bench. I think we did that with Tayo coming on in front of Terell Thomas to change the system for the last ten minutes.”

PHOTOS: PAUL EDWARDS